In Way of Trouble
by Hikagi
Summary: Slight AU. Thirty-five hundred miles away from home, Naruto and company are stuck infiltrating a European school that does not exist according to conventional maps. Meh, things are starting to get troublesome. - Abandoned. Rewrite in progress.
1. What Mission?

**Teaser**: Thirty five hundred miles away from home, Naruto and the gang are stuck infiltrating a European school that doesn't exist according to satellite maps. Meh, things are starting to get troublesome.

**Disclaimer**: This is the only time I'll say this for the rest of the story. I don't own Naruto or Harry Potter – they belong to Masashi Kishimoto and J. K. Rowling respectively. No profit is being made out of this fanfiction. Also, distribution of this material elsewhere has not been consented; if you see this fanfic anywhere other than here and on my dA account, it's without my permission.

I'm going to assume that people who read the later chapters have already read this one. Also due to the nature of crossovers, I consider this story to be AU. That means that I might take some of the information presented in the most recent chapters/books of either series, I might just continue on as if they had never happened. You have been warned.

* * *

**In Way of Trouble  
**  
Chapter 01: "What Mission?"

By Hikagi

* * *

Grinning from ear to ear, he burst towards the stall and slammed his hands down on the bar, earning annoyed looks from some of the other customers.

"Oi, oi!" he shouted. "Four miso ramen please!"

"For here or to go?"

"Here!"

"Hai, Uzumaki-san!" Ayame giggled as she placed the order and left to prepare the meal.

Less than ten minutes later, she emerged balancing a tray on each hand. By that time, the rest of Naruto's team had caught up with the hyperactive blond ninja and sat down with him. With a chorus of "Itadakimasu!" the three genin and their instructor dug in to their food, letting their stomachs happily get to work after a hard day's worth of training.

"So what'cha got for us, Kakashi-sensei?" Konoha's number one obnoxious ninja asked his jounin instructor between gulps of ramen. "It must be really important if you agreed to pay for our lunch."

He turned around to quickly inhale the rest of the soup before asking the waitress for "another bowl of ramen, but shrimp this time please!" She smiled and complied with his wish, disappearing again behind the curtains before coming out with his order.

Hatake Kakashi sighed and shook his head. If Naruto kept eating at this rate, then he was going to be hard-pressed to pay for the lunch bill.

"Well," he replied slowly, setting his own empty bowl down. "It seems as if the Godaime sent us a message about something special. We'll discuss it later."

"Sounds good," the blond stated, not really paying attention.

Sasuke watched with mild amusement at the pace the food was disappearing from the bowl. Then looking over at his sensei, he noticed that all of the jounin's ramen was already gone. When had he taken off his mask…?

The Uchiha looked back towards the rest of his teammates, wondering how little things had changed during the past few months. Naruto was still eating his noodles like a vacuum cleaner and Sakura was scolding him for his eating habits. Ayame-san and her father were busy catering to their other customers at the Ichiraku stand while the inhabitants of Konoha talked pleasantly with one another. Turning his thoughts elsewhere, he stared at the ceramic bowl in front of him, thinking back to the not so distant past.

Had he really tried to run away from it all – his friends, his peers, the people he could call family? Had he really been that desperate to go through such lengths to do so? Had revenge taken over his mind to the point where all rational thought fled from his being?

A tingle from his shoulder was the reply and Sasuke unconsciously brought his right hand to rub against the curse seal. The time when he had tried to defect from the Hidden Village of Leaf was still a big blur in his mind, and he had trouble distinguishing the events that had transpired during his flight away from the place he had considered his home. The fight between himself and the loud-mouthed person that sat not two feet away was even more shrouded than the haze after he had 'died' in the sealed container.

…Had he really been that close to killing the closest person he had to calling a best friend…?

A voice interrupted his silent brooding. "Oi, teme! Aren't you going to eat before your soup gets cold?"

"Urusai, dobe," Sasuke automatically replied, not registering what the blond had even said. Naruto bristled from his spot, trying to come up with an insult to throw at his face, but immediately stopped after one Haruno Sakura's glare. Sasuke wisely chose to tune them out, knowing that that wasn't going to get him anywhere.

"Ano, Sasuke-kun… You haven't touched your meal."

Indeed, he hadn't. As if noticing for the first time, Sasuke blinked at the now cooled ramen in front of him. Ignoring Sakura's slightly worried look, he broke apart his chopsticks and began eating his food. Taking his time to chew and swallow methodically, it wasn't long before his thoughts got carried away again.

It was as if he had never left. His team had forgiven him for his actions, as had the genin (plus one chuunin) who had been involved in his capture and retrieval.

But that didn't mean the rest of the village had forgotten about his temporary betrayal. Whispers were being exchanged behind their backs, and if Sasuke prided himself on being a ninja, he could bet his life that they were talking about him.

_"Hey, isn't that the kid who tried t-" _

_"Hush! We're not supposed to talk about that." _

_"Hai, hai. I know. Demo saa-" _

_"The Hokage expressed her wishes for that subject to remain silent." _

_"Keh. If you ask me, they should have killed him instead of bringing him back. I don't know what the hell that woman was thinking when she ordered that mission, but I don't appreciate traitors in our midst. Even if it involves that kid." _

_"Haruka! Keep your thoughts to yourself! We should be glad that they were able to bring him back. What if he had succeeded in running away to him? Konoha would have been in big trouble then." _

_"Which is why they should have all died in the first place." _

_"Watch your tongue!" _

Sasuke shrugged them away without a second thought, pretending that he hadn't heard the hushed conversation with his sharp ears. Looking at the rest of his team, he could tell that they too had picked up the voices but were too polite to place attention on it. Naruto kept on smiling and talked even louder than before despite the fact that he probably had a better sense of hearing than all of them combined and couldn't drown out the whispers no mater how loud he tried to cover it up. And Sakura – poor Sakura – was trying so hard not to let any of these comments get the better of her by engaging in whatever topic Naruto was spouting up in efforts to talk over the gossip around them.

Noticing the tension rising in the ramen booth, Kakashi cleared his throat. "Well, if you three are done with your meals, I propose that we head out."

They nodded and rose from their seats. Kakashi thanked Ayame-san and left the necessary amount of money with a generous tip before following his students. Seeing that the others were well ahead of him, the jounin then disappeared in a flurry of leaves and transported himself to where his students had decided to wait for instructions.

Several seconds later, he reappeared at their usual meeting spot on the bridge where Team Seven had chosen to regroup.

Kakashi greeted them with a goofy face and a raised hand. "Yosh. Good to see that you all didn't get distracted on your way here." He then pulled out a scroll from his pouch and opened it so that the others could see it. "I wanted to make sure that we weren't being overheard in a place full of people. This is the request written by the Hokage stating that she wishes to see us at 1000 hours tomorrow."

"Anything specific, or will she tell us that when she meets us?"

"Just a small meeting about a special ops mission she wants to send us on. She was very pleased with our last big mission, so she thinks that we're capable of handling another one."

Three pairs of eyes brightened at the prospect. "Another protection mission?"

"That's correct. And it seems like they're important as well. Any other questions and or details will be explained next week at the official debriefing."

"Is that all?" Sakura asked as she took a quick glance at the sky.

"For now, at least. You're all dismissed."

"Thanks," the kunoichi replied as she took off. "I need to get going before I'm late for something."

"Hey Sakura-chan!" Naruto called out, chasing after her. "Where are you going?"

"Tsunade-sama wanted me to train with Shizune-san for extra lessons since she's too busy to see me in person today," she replied as he caught up next to her.

"That old hag is still giving you a hard time?"

"Well, I'm just grateful that she decided to give me extra lessons on top of my training with my genin team."

Naruto gave her a smile. "Well, I gotta go for extra training as well with Ero-sennin. And I'm sure that you'll be just fine."

She nodded and leaped onto a rooftop, taking a shortcut towards the direction in which Konoha's hospital buildings stood. Naruto followed suite, heading for one of the training grounds less frequented by other shinobi. That left only Kakashi and Sasuke on the bridge, watching as half of the team left without so much as a second glance back.

Not much had changed during the past few months. But then again, the little that did was enough to remind the Uchiha that nothing was the same as before.

"What rank?" Sasuke asked as his teammates left to find their secondary instructors.

"A-class."

**_To Be Continued…_**

* * *

**Author's Notes: **

(May 2008) Important notice! IWoT is undergoing a rewrite! For extended explanations, please see the A/N in chapter 13.

_Yatsuka Hikagi_

_January 22, 2003_


	2. Of Ominous Omens

**In Way of Trouble  
**  
Chapter 02: "Of Ominous Omens"

By Hikagi

* * *

The lights sparkled in the darkness like pieces of glass on the beach as she flew overhead, gliding almost effortlessly against the cool breeze that swept across the land. The waning crescent moon shone down upon the earth and the stars were twinkling dimly, occasionally covered by a drifting cloud or two.

Below lay a quiet residential area in which the adults were home from their hard day's work and the children were asleep. All the houses were mirror images of each other, down to the very last doormat and the ornaments (or lack thereof) on the front lawn.

At first, one might stop to marvel at the level of conformity this strange group of people seemed to exhibit, but that could all be waved away by professors and anthropologists who had spent time analyzing them.

Muggles, after all, were an odd bunch.

As if knowing this, the small flighty being swooped down from the skies and gently perched on a flickering street lamp. She blinked owlishly, staring at all of the identical houses in front of her.

Now, which one was it…?

She glanced back at the letter in her possession and found the house that corresponded to the address written across the envelope. Hopping off the streetlamp, she made her way towards the intended house, arriving at a specific window on the second floor. Peering inside, she saw that the recipient of her letter was fast asleep and tangled in his sheets.

Carefully hanging on one side of the windowsill, she knocked gently on the glass, hoping to rouse the person inside to open the window since it was locked from the inside. After seeing that he refused to wake, she knocked again, only slightly louder. He still wouldn't get up.

Mentally sighing, she resorted to waiting outside, hoping that no one would see her sitting (more like precariously balancing) on a second story window before she had the chance to deliver and leave. But that was no matter; she could wait.

A few seconds later, she saw something dart out of the bushes, into the flower garden, under the fence, and into the neighbor's yard. With her superior vision, it didn't take too long for her to realize that the prey (she was getting hungry – could you blame her?) was slightly limping and not at all hard to capture, kill, and devour.

It was going to be a _long_ wait…

* * *

The figure inside the very room was not having any better of a time in his fretful slumber.

It was dark and hardly cozy with clothes scattered here and there and neglected pieces of furniture about. The paint was starting to peel from the stucco walls due to years of abuse, the door hinge seemed to be a little rusty, and the doorknob was well worn.

The wooden floor was showing signs of decay and an occasional squeak was likely to be heard when treading upon them, though the caretakers of the house would never admit out loud much less to themselves that such a room existed in their charge. The bed was old and thoroughly worn with a huge dip in the middle of the mattress where the springs had been bent out of shape as if an object of immense weight had been dropped from a great height.

The figure thrashed about as if trying to evade an enemy in his sleep and kicked the blankets around a bit. He jerked when at one point in his dream he was captured by his mortal enemy, and responded by struggling in the hold of the deadly sheet covers. He let out a short scream of pain and in one final struggle against the enemy, the blanket, which was putting up a rather good fight by tangling itself around the young boy's arms, legs, and torso.

Still in the nightmarish trance, he pushed himself against the wall where he hit his left shoulder against something rather splintery and possibly lethal.

* * *

It had all started with a peculiar-looking round knife embedded into the ground next to a small mound and a big slab of stone. Or at least, it looked like a round blade. When he tried to push his glasses up his nose so that his eyes could focus better, he found that they were nowhere to be found – on his face, or anywhere nearby.

After the first stone slab came dozens more. Rows of what looked like graves appeared out of nowhere as the black-haired boy lifted his head to the horizon. He started down one particular row of graves feeling that something was calling out to him, his feet moving as if some unknown force were guiding him towards a specific destination.

Passing by each of the graves, he halted at one that bore scratched marks and with a morbid sense of curiosity, knelt to brush the dust off. What he saw startled him. His own mother's name was engraved on the cold stone, and as he rose to run he spotted one with his father's.

Now sprinting, the boy ran past the stone slabs trying not to see the names engraved in huge letters on either side of him. But one piece of stone made him stop in his tracks.

In the corner of his eyes he spotted one empty grave with snake patterns etched into the sides of the surface of the granite. They seemed to beckon him, inviting him to come closer with their beautiful yet deadly white faces and harsh penetrating eyes.

_'Come here_,' they seemed to say as they started glowing an eerie color of green. '_Come here, we won't hurt you…'_

There was a moment when time stood still as the scrawny boy hesitated, but he slowly walked closer to the grave. Inches in front of the stone slab, he paused, waiting for something to happen.

'_Yes_,' the snakes hissed with an almost soothing tone into his mind. '_Come join us…_'

The little stone snakes moved around to reveal to the boy what they had been hiding from the rest of the world… His own name carved into the tombstone.

He was hardly surprised to see it, however. It seemed so…_right_, for lack of a better term – so fitting. He had lost his entire family, some of his comrades and peers, and many others whom he had never gotten to know. But seeing his name etched in stone couldn't compare to the feeling of shock, loss and despair from a few months ago…

Then a chilling wind rose up that sent a shiver down his spine. The boy turned to face a cloud of dark mist, sharp eyes peering from within. There was yet another moment of silence as the teenager drew a breath and prepared himself for what was yet to come.

"Seize him!" a harsh high voice commanded to the snakes on the stone. The once motionless tombstones sprang to life as they took the shape of what seemed like slithering objects, all aiming, reaching, lunging for the boy's legs.

His reflexes were fast - there was no denying that. Yet, as the boy sprinted to avoid the lunging snakes, he found himself falling fast towards the ground before him, tied down by a wave of writhing, liquid stone.

A man – no, he could hardly be considered human anymore – came out of the shadows of the black mist carrying a large and deadly python-ish snake around his shoulders in which the boy recognized as a basilisk. He had seen one before. But how he was still alive after just having locked gazes with the monster was a mystery, one of many that was bugging him at this moment.

'_Master! Master! We have him! We have him!'_ The snakes etched onto the tombstone rattled in a frenzied excitement, glowing radiantly with energy.

"Very good," was the masked man's reply. He turned to the black-haired boy and asked, "Do you know who I am?"

The boy just stood there as if petrified, secured too tightly to even move. The stone chains that were formally binding him were brushed aside by a wave of the man's hand. By now, the snake had slithered off of the mysterious man's shoulders and had started towards the boy, hissing, eyes full of pure hatred and venom.

"I. Am. Your..." the snake-like figure dramatically drawled out, making the boy's blood race with adrenaline. Cold, red eyes peered as the basilisk proceeded to make the distance between itself and the boy shorter.

"Death."

The man's snake-like eyes pierced the boy's green ones as he gave the command with a hissing voice.

_'Do it.'_

The boy screamed in pain as the basilisk shot out from behind one of the gravestones and bit him squarely on his left shoulder. He could only grasp his shoulder as he tried to figure out a way to defeat the snake.

Somehow, somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew how to be rid of it, but the poison from the snakebite starting creeping up his neck and threatened to split his head apart.

Something about a bird… And the color red…

"And now, the famous _golden_ boy I have long sought after lays dying before me. I can't help but feel disappointed in his pathetic efforts, so I shall present a little gift for him."

The snake figure rose and motioned with his head to where he kept a few people tied to wooden stakes, which the boy had not noticed earlier due to the endless rows of graves.

"As you can see, I've discovered a way to bring people back from the dead."

The black-haired boy recognized a few of the faces in the very front from the old photo albums kept at home.

"Say goodbye."

_'NO!'_ his mind screamed as the malicious robed man raised his arms to perform that spell… That forbidden spell that would end up killing… Killing…

_Don't kill them!_

But the pain was blinding his senses, making him lose sight of the figures on the stakes as he heard them being tortured to death, their screams echoing in his ears with a ringing sensation.

_DON'T KILL THEM!_

* * *

_'Mom, Dad, no! Don't kill them! Leave them a-'_

Arms shot out, reaching, grasping, flailing for fresh air as the boy awoke from his dream. With a sweating brow, black hair plastered on his face, pain searing across his forehead and shoulder, and short rasps of breath, he sat up on his bed, covers astray, trying to block the images that haunted him almost every night of the summer.

Calming himself down, he slowed his breathing and his erratic heartbeat and tried to think rationally.

A nightmare…

That was all it had been. That was all it was. Even years after the death of his parents, he still longed for their presence – their comfort.

Putting that aside, the teenage boy slid out of bed, but not without a sudden lurching sound from the supporting wooden beams holding the bed together, wincing at the pain in his left shoulder.

If memory served correctly, he had been bitten by a snake in his dream. Then why did it hurt even after waking up? Experiencing pain in one's sleep was neigh well impossible, according to scientists. But they hadn't taken curses and magical scars into account during their studies.

Perhaps he had accidentally rammed his shoulder into something in the middle of his sleep? It wasn't an unlikely circumstance with all of the junk located about the room. On the other hand, it could have also been the fault of the furniture.

Maybe he should see about getting a new bed. His current one was too old and hardly fitting as a place to sleep on. True, it had a tendency to jolt every once in a while as if it were going to fall any second which was a result of years of abuse it had been put through before he had ever received it, and that archaic bedpost was bound to kill someone sooner or later. Most importantly of all, it was _broken_.

But then, where would he get the money? Perhaps the neighbors would be willing to give him a few odd jobs to do? But that was unlikely.

That was _highly_ unlikely.

Oh, but how he wished…

The boy got up from his bed and proceeded to walk about his room, wary of the scattered pieces of parchments and scrolls lying about. He'd been having trouble trying to sneak all of his studying past his relatives, but they had no knowledge of the act thus far. For that, he was grateful.

It would have been troublesome if they had found out that he had been learning about _that_ again. It was clear that his aunt and uncle didn't want anything to do with _those people_ ("Wizards," he mumbled under his breath), or have him associate with them. But what could he say? _'Those people,'_ as they put it, were a part of his everyday life.

He couldn't change any of it. He certainly didn't _want_ to.

He gingerly rubbed his temples with his right hand as he covered his eyes with the other. He was getting more prone to these migraine-like pains and the more he thought of it, the more intensifying it became.

He rubbed his eyes in hopes of clearing them before he took another step towards the other side of the room. It had been his studying and what he liked to call 'training' in the middle of night that had made him get these headaches in the first place.

If only it didn't strain his eyes so much…

_'Stupid teachers, giving me so much damn homework…'_

Wearing a much-too-large gray shirt and a loose-fitting pair of khaki pants, the teenaged boy rumpled his messy hair and stared at the clock just above his desk. Squinting his eyes, he stepped closer in order to decipher the minuscule black hands on the shinny face of the object by which he lived by.

He had taken to staring at the clock everyday, trying to pass by the endless time that seemed to be on his hands until the day when he would be called to join his friends once again at school…

School…

That was the one place where he felt like he belonged, the one place his relatives loathed most of all. They never had approved of his school, and the boy was convinced by now that they will never learn to like it. Since his parents had died, his aunt and uncle had taken over rather unwillingly in raising the boy up to this very day.

Still, the boy thought that his relatives might sooner raise a complete stranger or even shelter a criminal than to treat him with the respect and care a decent human being deserved. They had never taken to liking him and 'his kind'…

_'It must be in the blood…' _

He looked into the mirror located on the door to his closet and smiled grimly. He had been told a few times by a few of the adults he trusted that he looked exactly like his father. He couldn't really disagree though. It had been so long since he had seen his father's face, that he couldn't really compare his to his own…

His memory was starting to fade. But his head and shoulder aches didn't.

He winced once again as he moved about the room and put his hands to his left shoulder. The shirt that he was wearing stuck to his body as if the humidity of the air had intensified by a hundred fold. He removed his hand to find traces of sweat that somehow managed to soak into his cotton shirt, but thought nothing of it until he notices the coloration of the damp material and the 'sweat' on his palm…

He grimaced and grit his teeth as it suddenly dawns on him. It was looking rather dark for sweat…

He moved his shirt away from his shoulder. The punctured holes didn't look nor feel much like splinters had gotten to them. In fact, it looked a lot like…

He closed his eyes slowly, trying to remember the face of the man who had tried to attack him. It was a shrunken white face hardly like a man at all with those freaky-looking eyes. Eyes that were as thin as slits with such intent and longing to kill, the boy had been taken aback.

Still…

He peered down at his shoulder again.

That was no splinter mark… It was more like a… a…

_'Snakebite,'_ he judged from the punctures left behind. It looked odd with three red comma-looking marks in a circular pattern. What was also exceptionally strange was that it started to fade away, leaving only a small trail of crusted blood dried up on the back of his neck.

It was starting to scare him – the way his dreams were becoming more and more real as time passed on.

A tapping at the window made the boy shift his attention from the peculiar stain on his left shoulder towards the odd-looking bird outside on the sill.

A fleeting glimpse of red flashed before his eyes, but the teenager sighed disappointedly. This white owl was not the bird he had hoped to see.

But then again, maybe someone had written to him…

The majestic owl perching near the window hooted and looked in at the boy with curious, expecting eyes. The boy hurried over as if he had been waiting for this and opened the window to let the bird in. The owl hooted again, softer this time as if afraid of stirring anything from its slumber, and hopped onto a nearby table, waiting for the boy to release her for the rest of the night. He nodded his head as a sign of understanding and allowed the snowy owl to take off into the night.

The boy eagerly opened the message carried by the owl as the bird flew off to go hunting for easy prey and for a chance to rest easy after a long journey. Inside was a hastily scrawled note as if the writer had been in a hurry or was just too impatient to write a decent-sized one.

--

_Fear not, my boy. _

_I will be sending someone over soon for a scheduled visit. _

_If things are not working well, then you can be rest assured that it will be handled accordingly. _

_Just be sure to refrain from rash behaviors. _

_Things are going as planned on our side, but we are not without losses. _

_Hope you enjoy the rest of your summer holiday, and be sure to keep safe. _

_We'll let you know if anything else happens. _

--

There was a little more to the note, but nothing as important as the clear warning his not-quite guardian had sent to him. That was followed by the smudged and almost unreadable signature of his caretaker and what appeared to be a few accidentally-spilled drops of ink as if the writer had knocked over a bottle of ink or simply let his pen run over. The boy let out a loud disappointed sigh as he set the small scroll down on the table.

_'What could this mean?'_ he asked no one in pertaining in regards to the letter. _'What exactly is going on?'_

They weren't writing to him much. From what he could gather, the war efforts were going relatively smoothly. The 'we' part in the last bit of the letter-ish note suggested that his friends were also with the sender of the mail, but he couldn't be too sure. Much like last year, his friends and contacts had also taken to writing short notes instead of long-winded ones he had hoped for, and it was starting to annoy him again.

What did they expect? He was well recovered from the unfortunate encounter last June – that snake man didn't manage to kill him yet, right? In the last tournament he had partaken in over a year ago, wasn't he the one who was attacked and _still_ somehow managed to find a way to survive?

The floor seemed to shake as he none too quietly stormed to his drawers to fetch his pen and parchment to write back to his caretaker and, he bitterly added, his 'friends'…

The boy was unaware of how sensitive (or paranoid) his relatives were about any sort of noise coming from his room until he heard the thudding of the wall coming from the room next to his. An older boy screamed at him to be quiet while yelling a few curses, none too loud for the adults down the hallway to hear, and threatened to beat the younger boy the following day.

He tried to calm himself from his cousin's insults by biting into his lower lip and immediately regretted it when he tasted the copper liquid at the tip of his tongue. He silently asked himself why he still continued to live with such miserable people (often he wondered if they were related at all), and thought about his parents…

They had died. No, to say that they died would be to not do them justice. They had been ('brutally' he added without a second thought) murdered in the dead of night when the moon was full and haunting. The killer was… He didn't want to think about it…

He had come face-to-face with the killer on several occasions, each time not strong enough to defeat his snake-like mortal enemy… Oh, how he wanted to kill that foul and disgusting creature with all of his being! And now said enemy was getting stronger, gathering more weapons and followers as the time ticked by, as _he_ sat in his accursed aunt's house rotting away without the joy of practicing his new-found powers…

All students were banned from practicing any of their spells outside of class or were otherwise faced with expulsion from the school and practically the rest of the community. Oh, how he wished that it were not so. But he was already in trouble for disobeying direct orders given to him by his superiors.

The boy's thoughts were jarred from him as the clock on the wall rang signaling that the night was half over, and morning would soon be coming. He grimaced again as he looked down at his right hand, which traveled unconsciously towards his left shoulder as he walked back towards his bed.

He would have to get the bloodstains out later…

With that, the boy known as Harry Potter eased himself back into bed, his shoulder sending waves of pain across his body, and his scar searing with the pain he knew all too well.

_Something was going to happen._

_Soon…_

**_To Be Continued…_**

* * *

_Yatsuka Hikagi _

_January 27, 2004_


	3. Poison and Sugar

"Rank…A…?" Sasuke stated with incredulity. "What in the world was Godaime think-"

"She thinks you're up for the challenge," Kakashi replied. "Besides, you've all proven that you can handle a mission of that level already… Just," he looked sheepish. "Well, in disguised forms."

"Sou ka."

* * *

**In Way of Trouble**

Chapter 03: "Poison and Sugar"

By Hikagi

* * *

"So how long do you think this mission will last, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked as they met on the bridge later on in the afternoon. Shizune-sensei had dismissed her a little earlier than Tsunade-sama usually did, thus allowing her the time for one last D-rank mission before the sun set. And by the looks of it, Naruto had somehow managed to get excused early as well.

"Hn?" The jounin turned his head towards her as if he didn't hear her question. Sakura merely sweatdropped at how different her sensei was just a few minutes ago… Inner Sakura, on the other hand, did not.

_'Why that little-!' _

"Oh. I'm not too sure. Hokage-sama said anywhere from…"

Sakura leaned a little closer, eager to get the details.

"…one to ten months," Kakashi finished. Sakura facefaulted at the elusiveness in his answer, and mentally swore to somehow squeeze the details out of him.

_'When I get my hands on him-!' _

Sasuke was also annoyed at the lack of details. "Why would it take that long? Even a month is a long time to be away."

"Oh, hmm… For that question, I have only one answer."

Everybody drew closer.

"I don't know."

This time the three genin all facefaulted.

_"WHY NOT KAKASHI-SENSEI!" _Sakura and Naruto both started yelling at him, their eyes like white sockets while Sasuke just glared at his teacher.

"Oh… Well, Hokage-sama requested that I don't reveal everything quite yet-" but he was cut off by one of Naruto's loud bursts.

"THAT'S BECAUSE YOU PROBABLY DON'T KNOW ANYTHING YOURSELF!"

Kakashi just backed off, smiling and chuckling to himself. Dammit, he hit that last one right on the mark…

"Okay, okay, calm down, Naruto! No need to get excited about this!"

Naruto just grunted and started mumbling to himself what Sakura thought sounded remarkably similar to "punch him and kick him and beat him up and…"

With that, Team 7 reached their destination and began to carry out one of their D ranked missions.

* * *

"Oi…" Naruto collapsed to the ground as he succumbed to his body's aching protests. "What kind of training was _that_!" Kakashi just smiled somewhat maniacally as he explained what his purpose was.

"Today's tasks also comes with a lesson. Those who are not able to wait for long periods at times need to learn how to be patient. It is an important factor of being a shinobi."

"Yeah, but what does collecting poison from frogs have to do with being patient? I bet Sakura and Sasuke didn't do so well either!"

Kakashi backed off a little, holding his hands in front of him as a symbol of giving up withheld information.

"As a matter of fact, Sakura and Sasuke didn't do such a good job."

"Ha!"

"But at least they caught some of the frogs in the first place without being so careless as to actually _touch_ them." Kakashi emphasized this by looking down to Naruto's hands. Naruto responded by 'pft'ing and turned his head sideways, the corners of his mouth turned down in a frown.

"Oh yeah? So why is collecting the poison off the stupid frogs so important?"

"Because they are one of the key ingredients used in special medical creams, and they only grow on certain frogs in this forest."

"Oh…"

"They're not exactly the most abundant animals around, so we have to be careful not to upset them in any way."

Naruto glared. "You think I _upset_ them! Just _look_ what they did to my _hands_!" In response, he held up his hands in front of Kakashi's face, all swollen and blistered. "You should have told me that their poison was _on_ their _skin_!"

His sensei just shrugged and started walking back towards the village. "So I've noticed…"

"ARRRRRG!"

Naruto fumed and in blind rage tried to attack his teacher while wildly swinging his fists around. Kakashi merely blocked a clumsy punch that was aimed for his head before the genin collapsed to the ground, clutching his hands in pure agony.

"… I would have told you that the poison also make the nerves very sensitive unless properly cultivated, but you attacked before I had the chance to…"

* * *

Oh gods, he _hated_ the smell of antiseptics in the air that permeated in the hospital rooms.

And what was that in her hands? It looked sharp and nasty. And it smelt worse that whatever foul chemicals were used to keep the whole building clean.

Please don't bring it here, please don't bring it here, please don't bring it- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Naruto bit down on his tongue to refrain from screaming his lungs out. A slight whimper escaped his throat as the nurse-like figure proceeded to bandage his raw skin.

"Naruto-kun, you really ought to be more careful next time! These poisons are very potent. Although they have the power to help heal wounds, they can also cause painful ones if not handled carefully…"

He gasped, and chose his words carefully, trying not to let his voice crack. "You and Kakashi-sensei… could have told me that _before_…"

The nurse stopped her motions and turned to face the blond ninja. She grinned good-naturedly as she placed a hand on Naruto's head and ruffled his hair.

"Well, you could've figured that out by just looking at what everyone else was doing…"

She continued bandaging the poor boy. He winced as she tightened the whole wrap with a double knot.

"Oi, Shizune-'neesan… that hurts… a lot…"

"That's what you get for being a loudmouth and a show-off."

"Hey!"

Naruto 'hmpf'-ed and turned his head to the side, blowing hot air out of his nostrils. Shizune sighed and shook her head as she looked out the window. The kid reminded her of the Godaime – the same stubborn and hotheaded personality that she was bound to serve under. Speaking of which, Tsunade-sama's been busy the past few days buried under paperwork…

"Hey, Shizune-san…"

Shizune was shaken out of her thoughts at the mention of her name. "Nani?"

"Well, have you seen Tsunade-baabaa recently?"

The medic-nin shook her head. Just the person she was thinking about…

"Why do you ask?"

At this, Naruto grinned, pulling off one of his trademark fox looks.

"Well, she still owes me ramen from a bet we had a few weeks ago, and I think she's stubbornly refusing to pay for it."

Shizune laughed and shook her head. Trust Naruto to make the atmosphere lighter in his own ways.

"Is that all you can think about? Food?"

The boy shook his head. "Nope! I think about training all the time too!"

"Well then! You'd better heal up quick! Because word has it that the Godaime's got a big mission for you!"

She winked, mocking Naruto's ego and eagerness to show off to the world.

"Eh – don't worry about it! I'm sure I'll get better by the time I wake up tomorrow."

He cocked his head and pointed a finger at his belly. Shizune gave a half smile at the unseen seal and started packing the left over gauze and ointment.

"Naruto…"

The blond ninja turned his head slightly to see his elder's figure through the corner of his eyes.

"Just make sure you get back okay – yeah?"

Naruto picked up his forehead protector and jacket from the chair as he headed out the door.

"Sure thing,… Shizune-oneesan…"

* * *

Light filtered in from the open window and settled on the back of a figure bent over a desk.

'_Dammit…' _

Hands folded neatly in front of its face, its eyes peered at the figure sitting a few meters away…

'_Why now?'_

Of all the years she had spent away from the village of Konoha, Tsunade had not bothered to keep in contact with all of her former acquaintances.

But for one of them to just show up out of the blue? She rubbed her temples unconsciously.

'_I just know I'm going to regret this…'_

The man before her chuckled lightly, his blue eyes sparkling with a sense of humor.

"I know it's been a rather tough transition for you," he said, as if to speak her thoughts.

"You have no idea…"

Tsunade's attention flicked back from her headache to the customer. He sighed.

"And I am sorry to say that my presence here came at the most inopportune time. The Third was a great friend of mine. I was expecting to meet him a while later, but certain circumstances led me to arrive here early…"

"And that is…?"

She had the urge to flick off one of the ants that were crawling around the table, running into the parchments and inks. They were scurrying about, as if they were on a wild goose chase or something… Maybe there was a breadcrumb around here somewhere?

"You understand what I was asking from you a few days ago, yes?" he asked without really expecting a reply. Tsunade in turn, nodded. "I hope that I've given you enough time to consider the offer…"

For some reason, they were carving patterns around the wood, as if tracing a complex path across the rings.

"More than enough. I've already assigned it to a group of capable shinobi who are willing to take it-"

The man interrupted, waving a hand aside, smiling at her attempt to side-step the matter.

One of the ants was drawing dangerously close to the hem of her sleeve.

"You are very smart. No, no – I was talking about the other offer."

Her eyes narrowed.

"Which one?" she asked almost dangerously.

_It inched closer… _

"Why, the position to teach, of course! I presume that you would not want to leave it up to this, _Kakashi_, to teach with his reputation for tardiness, no?"

She sighed and waved her answer with one hand.

"Of course, of course…"

_Antennas sensing the air… _

"And?" he asked gently, hoping to hear what he would already know what would come out of her mouth.

"I accept-"

"Good!"

"-on the condition that I do not have to teach all year long. My duties are here first. Other matters come later."

The figure smiled.

_The ant started crawling up her hand and onto her arm. _

"Ah. I see."

He gave an all-knowing nod of approval. Tsunade raised an eyebrow.

"But why did you turn to us? Couldn't you have found another teacher just as easily?"

The man laughed, his white beard glinting from the sunrays.

_The ant crawled back down and started for the stack of parchments off to the side of the desk, smelling the scent of food nearby. _

"My dear, I am growing old! That was one of the few things The Third would tease me about every time I'd visit."

Tsunade cut to the point, agitation obvious in her voice.

"Yes, but why _me_?"

The old man just smiled, used to bursts of anger that he had experienced throughout the years.

_Too close. _

"You are exceptionally bright. Reminds me of one of my students, in fact. Incredible child, if I do say so myself. Never misses a beat. Exceptional witch, that Granger is-"

_Slam!_ Tsunade nailed the ant before it could reach the important documents inches away.

"You're getting off track, old man."

"If I recall correctly, you're not that young yourself," he joked, smiling at the woman who took on the appearances of that of a 20-year-old.

"Hmpf!" She brushed her hands on a cloth nearby, making sure that the remnants of the now dead ant were completely gone. Heaven _knows_ how ants were attracted to dead things.

"All matters aside, I _am_ serious about both 'missions', as you call them. The teaching position is not as important as the transferring students."

"I agree. And I am not as worried about the teaching post in regards as to what you want my men to accomplish. The role of pretending to be transfer students can only be completed by children; no adult, regardless of his amount of training, would be able to act like a teenager for a whole year. There are bound to be some slip-ups. Regardless, I trust my shinobi to get the job done."

_Now, if only she were able to dispose of the other ants while not being rude in front of her guest…_

"Wise decision."

"Thank you. And these children I am sending have had more than enough of their share of hardships and struggles. I'm sure they will fit your needs and meet your expectations."

"Yes. The person they will be protecting has met his share of deaths as well. I expect nothing than the best from the ones you value."

"As I from yours."

"Now back to the teaching position I offered you…"

_There! _While taking a quick peek through the corner of her eyes, she spotted the source of her troubles. One of the scrolls had bits of honey stuck to it after being placed too close to one of the vats during a recent mission involving the sale of bartered goods in a nearby village.

"Yes. I was getting to that. I said before that I am willing to take the position, but business here in Konoha might occupy me otherwise."

"That is understandable."

"Kakashi will be accompanying the children on their mission and will see to them in my stead."

She slowly reached out and lifted the parchment from the desk, scanning the piece of paper critically. It was no big deal. She'd just have to copy the information on another bit of paper another time. For now, she'd have to make sure that none of the other ants could reach it.

"Ah yes. I trust that he is an excellent teacher as well?"

Tsunade snorted and muttered under her breath. "Depends on what you mean by that."

"I beg your pardon?"

She shook her head. Her headache was getting bigger by the minute, and the ants weren't helping one bit. Instead of flicking them off, she now had the urge to grind them all into the brown wood just to make sure they wouldn't come back to haunt her.

"I was just saying that it depends greatly on what you wanted him to teach. We shinobi might not know about magic compared to other people in your world."

"Lemon drop?" came the question from out of nowhere.

"_Hai_?"

"Lemon drop – a fascinating candy that I've discovered a little while ago. Helps soothe the throat and mind while maintaining an excellent taste. Would you like one?" He reached out, offering a bag of the candy.

"No, no thank you." She gave a short nod. "Are the arrangements acceptable for you?"

"If he is appointed by you, I'm sure it will be." The old man stood up, as if preparing to leave.

'_Now or never.'_

Tsunade piped up, voicing her biggest concern. "I have one last question – what exactly is going on?"

The old man studied her, brows tightly knit together. When he started speaking, it was almost hesitantly. "My dear, you remembered the time fifty years ago, when the world was in chaos?"

Tsunade shook her head. The old man continued talking.

"Of course not – you were still but a child. I remember coming here to The Hidden Leaf Village to ask one of your former Hokage for help."

'_But what does this have to do with anything?'_

"Many of my fellow colleagues had little reason to believe that the Hidden Villages even existed, but I sought it out. To my surprise, I found a society – a thriving one – that was not affected by the happenings of the world. And to equal this, my delight came when the First Hokage agreed to help me."

Tsunade nodded, slightly interested in the sort of story the old man seemed to be telling.

"Many years later, I came seeking for their help once more, and they readily came to my aid. Why did they help me? They were eager to learn more about the outside world where even their spies and traveling shinobi had little information to offer. They gave me their aid in exchange for my information and promise that I would not spread word about their society. To this very day, I still honor that promise.

"And now to make this more relevant to the task at hand, a strange occurrence happened a few years ago – sixteen, to be exact. The Dark Lord Voldemort, more commonly known as You-Know-Who supposedly vanished forever while trying to get rid of a little baby boy. His name is Harry Potter, also known now as The Boy Who Lived."

"You people sure know how to give names to others," Tsunade smiled wryly.

The old man chuckled in response.

"At first, I wasn't too sure what I was supposed to do with him. I sought counsel with ones who were as wise as I, yet no one could come up with an answer to this problem: What to do with him. How will he be raised? Should one of _us_ take him in?"

"We've had similar problems with one particular child, except not too many people wanted to take him in on account of what he was," she commented, obviously thinking about a certain blond genin.

The old man nodded, agreeing with her.

"Yes… I've had my doubts. I knew it would not be a good idea to introduce him in our community when he was so famous, but I was equally unsure about leaving him unprotected in the world.

"In the end, it was the Yondaime who offered a suggestion. At the time, he was busy ruling the Hidden Leaf Village and supporting his own family. He said that it would be best if the child remained with his family even if they were not of the best material. I, of course, agreed with him on more than one account. It was already on my mind that this possibility would be for the better, and so I acted upon it, delivering the boy to his mother's sister's doorsteps.

"It saddened me to find that not two years later, he sacrificed his own life to save his people. I presume that his own son is still around?"

"Yes. Even though Naruto may never know it, the Yondaime's son is very much alive and well. He is part of that team who will protect your Boy Who Lived."

"I see. In any case, I've already sent for the paperwork and it should be arriving within a few days by owl."

"By… owl?" the Godaime's eyebrows shot up ever so slightly.

"By owl," the aging white-haired man confirmed.

"I see…" The man gave a short bow.

"Thank you for agreeing to see me upon this matter."

"No, it is I who thank _you_." Tsunade smiled as she returned the bow. "You may leave now…"

And with that, the old man disappeared with a loud "pop!" leaving behind a trail of lemon-flavored candy flakes on top of the chair. Tsunade fixed her attention back to her table and sighed.

_Those ants were never going to go away…_

**_To Be Continued…_**

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Curse seal: Harry Potter was _not_ given a curse seal by Orochimaru, or anything like that, nor was it he who Harry dreamed about. It just so happens that Harry ran into his bedpost and got splinters that just _looks_ like the curse seal. Whether that has any significance or not is up to you…

Writing style: I was just trying to see if people would have actually thought that I was talking about Sasuke for a while when I was really talking about Harry as an experiment in my writing style… It's amazing what they have in common even though a lot of people pointed out that they're nothing alike… Still, I wanted to see if I could blur the lines between the two worlds for a while… So sorry about the confusion if there was any…

**Thanks to everyone who has reviewed!** If I haven't answered your question or whatnot, please remind me via review or PM!

_Yatsuka Hikagi _

_July 22, 2004_


	4. Dropping Inn on London

"So, when do we leave to see the Godaime?" was the first thing that came out of Naruto's mouth after he came trotting towards the bridge to meet the rest of Team 7.

He saw Sakura looking over the bridge railing and into the water while Sasuke was staring off into the skies. And Kakashi-sensei was… Well, Kakashi sensei was _always_ late so it didn't matter if-

"In a little bit. We have a few other things to take care of first."

…Kakashi was checking his fingernails as if it were an interesting subject. After seeing that they remained ever the same, he started brushing off his flax jacket and pants instead.

Naruto was shocked that a) Kakashi was _actually on time,_ b) he wasn't reading that porn book of his, and c) …well, _Kakashi was on time!_ There had to be something wrong with that.

"Oi, oi!" he yelled, pointing at the jounin. "Where's the _real_ Kakashi-sensei? And who's the imposter?"

"Baka," Sakura placed a well-aimed downward punch to his head. "Just because he's _on time_ doesn't mean that he's fake, even though it's highly improbably and most likely someone who _is_ impersonating him…"

Kakashi, in the meantime, was sweatdropping. _'Thanks for the vote of confidence, guys…'_

Sasuke, ignoring his other teammates for now, turned towards his instructor. "What do we have to do before we go?"

"Well, the Godaime has put in a request that we take one more member with us."

"Why? Isn't four the standard number for a team?"

Kakashi started walking, and Sasuke took that as a cue to follow.

"Yes, but you must remember that I will not be a part of your team for this mission. I will be occupied doing other things, so I will not be available all of the time. It is important that you cooperate with this last team member and follow his instructions just as you would mine."

Sasuke merely nodded in comprehension. "Aa... Sou desu ka…"

Sakura took this opportunity to leave Naruto behind. "So who will be our fourth team member?"

"Well…." Kakashi put a finger to his cheek and stalled. "Let's take a little walk and you'll see…."

* * *

**In Way of Trouble**

Chapter 04: "Dropping Inn on London"

By Hikagi

* * *

"YOU WANT **_THAT_** **_LAZY_** **_BUM_** TO BE OUR LAST TEAM MEMBER!"

They ended up in front of an old Go house where Asuma and his students were currently enjoying a refreshing afternoon game in the open air. Shikamaru was currently in mock concentration, hands in his usual thinking position which had often misled other shinobi into thinking it was a peculiar seal of some sort. But Naruto's outburst had momentarily caused him to lose his train of thought and the young chuunin looked up from his seat across his sensei.

"Che. How bothersome."

"Yo!" Kakashi raised a hand to greet his fellow jounin and acknowledged the other's students. Ino and Choji looked up from their idea of a Go game (which involved a contest of who could stack their pieces the higher) and returned the greeting. Asuma in turn nodded at the grey-haired man.

"What brings you here, Kakashi-san?"

"Ano, I was hoping to borrow your student for a moment," Kakashi pointed at Shikamaru. "It involves a mission sent by the Godaime." He motioned to Team 7 to stay put and they obeyed, joining their fellow genin at another table and participating in another one of Ino's Go games. This time, she was trying to see how many pieces it would take to fill up the entire board (1).

"I see…" Asuma closed his eyes and puffed his cigarette a few times, contemplating the situation. "_Jaa_…" he turned his attention to Shikamaru, " we can continue our match after your get back."

"Hai," the boy responded with little enthusiasm, slowly getting up from his bench before following the masked man towards a secluded area not too far away.

Asuma took this little distraction to quickly change a few black and white pieces around, tilting the odds from an unfavorable 1 – 3 to a more… _satisfying_… result.

* * *

"Well?" he asked as soon as they had reached a considerable distance away from prying minds and ears.

"The Hokage asked me to give you this," the jounin merely handed him a sealed scroll. Shikamaru opened it without hesitation and began reading the instructions left behind. What he read made his eyebrows shoot up in surprise.

"Do you mean to say that the disturbance in the Western world might as well come from the same person?"

"That is a very likely assumption. However, there is enough evidence that the disturbance is being caused by someone other than Orochimaru, though our source cannot say for sure. The old man merely said that this so-called 'dark force' had acquired a new power and ally foreign to what they were accustomed to dealing with. We just need to find out who it is and deal with the situation as quickly as possible."

The boy pondered the situation carefully, putting a great deal of thought into what rumors he had heard about the infamous traitor of the Leaf. After a considerable amount of time passed, he answered.

"I'll do it."

Kakashi smiled. How that was possible to tell, no one knew.

"Ah. That's good news." He pointed back to the Go House. "Let's head back, shall we?" They started walking back slowly, in no hurry to rush back to their fellow teams.

"Tell me: How much do the others know of the situation?"

"As much as I had revealed to you just now."

"You're leaving something out of this, aren't you…"

"…"

He had to admit, that Nara kid was pretty insightful and sharp… (2)

* * *

Asuma greeted his subordinate as he saw them approach from a distance.

"Oi! Shikamaru! Time to finish our match! I've waited too long listening to those five argue for the past quarter of an hour or so." He pointed his thumb in the general direction towards the rest of his and Kakashi's teams. The many methods of 'Go-playing' ("or butchering," Shikamaru muttered under his breath) they had come up with totaled to an amazing fifty-two. They were coming up with a fifty-third when Shikamaru promptly sat down and sighed. Kakashi then collected his students and walked them towards the residential section of the village before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

"Sooooo…" Asuma dragged out the word as an invitation to elaborate on the meeting. "What was all that about?" Shikamaru just gave a snort before answering with as little effort as possible.

"Godaime. Mission." Asuma mentally groaned. He knew that already! But demanding never prompted Shikamaru to give up information, so he was resorted to coaxing it out of him.

"Aaaaaaand?"

"Che. Let's just get back to the game, old man." The chuunin had an annoyed look on his face as if he wanted to ignore the subject altogether. Asuma took the hint before raising his arms in surrender.

"Okay, okay," he said, letting his student shift his focus on other things. Shikamaru sighed.

"Where were we?" he asked, looking down at the board for the first time since he left to talk to the other jounin. Asuma smiled mischievously, assuring himself that he would win against his student for the first time ever. He leaned up from against the wall and sat a little straighter.

"Why, I believe I was leading with a 15 – 1 advantage," he simply stated, amusement in his voice kept to a minimum lest Shikamaru didn't notice it at first. He didn't. The board was looking mighty strange to the pony-tailed chuunin until he registered what his sensei had said just a minute before.

"WHAT?"

And so the older man laughed loud and clear, his voice echoing as the wind carried it past the nearby trees. He paused only when he realized that his student was not at all fazed…

"Che. You know, I can still beat you despite the odds."

A pause…

"Damn!"

* * *

A few hours later Team 7 and Shikamaru gathered with a few of their belongings in front of the Administration Office that housed all of the official and tedious occupations of the village. So far while standing outside, they could hear Tsunade's yelling from the second story.

From their viewpoint, the genin saw a flurry of papers being scattered through the window and hallways while a number of phones started ringing incessantly. Tsunade's voice once again rang clear on top of all of the noise ordering all the secretarial aides to leave her presence immediately as she announced that she had an enormous headache. A second later, a chorus of replies answered followed by many feet scurrying away from her room.

There was an occasional loud thud as bodies collided into each other, trying to escape the wrath of the woman in charge. Kakashi and the others winced in sympathy.

"Ouch. That's gotta hurt…" He walked towards the main doors, over a great many papers on the ground, and ushered the others in. "After you," he simply stated.

They walked past the chuunin guards stationed inside near the reception area. Giving a nod to the girl working there, Kakashi quickly made his way up the stairs. His subordinates kept up with his pace and soon they were all waiting in front of the Hokage's office.

Kakashi gave a knock, which was soon answered by a "come in!" from the other side of the door.

"Rough day, Hokage-sama?" Kakashi asked while he opened the door to Tsunade's office. She merely started rubbing her temples as if the action would soothe her headache faster.

"Clients have been calling in, new orders have been scheduled, the wagons have been delayed so shipping is taking a while, borders between the Wind Country are currently being disputed, the prime minister is having a few problems of his own and is asking us for help – which I have no idea how to deal with, a few of my scouts have claimed that Orochimaru is still a danger and he's planning something right as we speak, the Academy is having a few water leaks, residents living near Area 44 have been complaining about the bug problem again, the swamp's in a mes-"

At this point, Kakashi started to tune the older woman out, wondering if she even took the time to breathe during the whole run-on sentence. He looked to his students and they too were doing the same thing. Sasuke was staring out the window, Sakura was straightening her robe, Shikamaru looked like he was falling asleep against the wall, and Naruto was busy doing something to the door that involved a bucket and some water…

"Cut that out," the jounin whispered as he lightly punched the genin in the ribs. Naruto just scowled before he set the bucket down next to his feet. Where he had gotten the bucket and water, Kakashi didn't know.

"- the Fire Lord's wife has lost her pet cat again, and my aides are a bunch of idiots!"

"Calm down Baabaa!" Naruto grumbled. "It's not like the world is coming to an end or anything!"

The room went deadly quiet. Sasuke and Shikamaru in particular were questioning Naruto's intelligence. Sakura and Kakashi wisely chose from commenting.

"Baa-" Shikamaru started, voice skeptical.

"-baa-" Sasuke followed, one eyebrow raised.

"What!" Tsunade ended up almost throwing the blond haired, blue-eyed kid out the window. Fortunately, the office desk was in her way and the angered woman settled for hammering him into the floor instead.

After Naruto peeled himself off the wooden floor, they finally started talking about the proposed mission they had just accepted.

"Ow!" Naruto mumbled under his breath. "That old hag still punches strong…"

Tsunade abruptly stopped talking.

"Naruto!" Sakura fiercely whispered into his ears. "Do you want to get beaten up again?"

Quickly coming to attention, the blond boy snapped up and tried to look as innocent as possible.

"As I was saying," Tsunade returned an icy glare before resuming her speech, "I have already given you the basics of this mission. Shikamaru will be posing as the team leader while Kakashi is working under the orders of Dumbledore-san himself. There will be an owl waiting for us with the necessary means to get to England."

As if on cue, a brown bird flew in from the opened window and landed nearby Tsunade's hand. With a "what a weird object," she relieved it from its package before sending it off with an already prepared treat and turned to the five shinobi standing in her room.

"The Headmaster assured me that he has secured an ample amount of money in the wizarding banks for you to purchase anything you might need."

The Leaf-nin nodded and gathered their belongings, preparing for their departure.

"Oh, and one last thing." They all turned to meet the Godaime's face.

"No one is to know that you come from a ninja society or that one even exists in all. Dumbledore has been very kind as to keep us a secret up until now. I suspect that the dark forces stirring in the Western world have found us out. It might be Orochimaru, it might not. All I can say is that the leader of the "dark forces" has an affinity for snakes much like our… traitor… The reason you are there to gather information is to see how much they know of us and if that knowledge can be erased if it puts the Leaf in danger."

Tsunade started wrapping up her little speech she prepared.

"Remember: you are all proud shinobi of the Hidden Village of Konoha. Do your duties well and perform them to the best of your abilities!"

With that, the portkey that was placed on the table started emitting a faint stream of chakra-like energy.

"Ten-second warning," Tsunade murmured, before ordering them to all touch the weirdly shaped boot. (3)

"This had better work," someone muttered under their breath before the team was jerked into a swirling mass of colors as the portkey transported them into another part of the world…

* * *

Tom grumbled.

Today was a boring day. He was busy wiping some of the glass mugs clean after a family of four departed their table and left for their rooms. His mood was evident as he scowled at a nearby waiter, clearly wanting something better to happen. Times weren't good anymore…

Oh sure, the sun was shining bright as ever ("Not that it was often sunny," he muttered), customers were happy, and the money was steadily flowing in, but he couldn't help but feel slightly gloomy. Nothing ever seemed exciting anymore. There were no windows to fix, no doors to replace, no new people to talk to, no random monsters crawling about, and no accidents requiring his attention. But most of all, there was no excitement in the air – no mysterious and strange things happening to keep his interest sparked. Perhaps that was because it was summer and the tourists from other countries were slowly starting to depart for their homeland, but there were other factors too.

For one, term didn't start yet, so the fresh air (and mischievous pranks) new and returning students brought with them was scarce. For another, there weren't many rumors flying about, or people interested in sharing/spreading them. Well, if you don't count the ones about You-Know-Who and The-Boy-Who-Lived. Those were common as everyday houseflies. Still, Tom couldn't help but think that there was either something wrong about the rumors being spread (because he got a pretty good impression about Harry Potter the last time he stayed at the Leaky Cauldron), or The Boy was a delusional and unstable teenager like the papers mentioned.

He scoffed.

The Daily Prophet was known for printing a biased account for anything famous (or infamous) that has ever happened. Sometimes for the heck of it, he'd go into the Muggle world just to see if they had any accurate leads compared to the wizarding press.

Breaking from his train of thought, he set down the polished glass mug and picked another one up.

_Wipe, shine. _

_Wipe, shine. _

You know what? Maybe he'd get another job elsewhere closer to all the action…

_Wipe, shine. _

_Wipe, shine. _

Yeah. At Hogsmeade, perhaps? At least it'd have visitors all year round…

_Wipe, shine. _

_Wipe, shine. _

Merlin! The repetition was getting to him!

_Wipe, shine. _

_Wipe, shine. _

_Wipe,_ fog the glass_, shine._

Patience, _patience_!

_Wipe, shine. _

_Wipe, shine. _

There was more than one reason as to why Tom was known as a simple man. He didn't ask too many questions when it came to strange and interesting topics. He had an almost one-tracked mind, sophisticated topics often flew over the top of his head and…

_Wipe, shine. _

_Wipe, shine. _

If things didn't happen soon, he was going to blow up!

_Wipe, shine. _

_Wipe, shi- _

BOOM!

…Which was why the simple-mindedness in Tom rejoiced when there was a loud explosion in his inn and a great hole in the ground when other managers would have been furious for the damage caused to their property.

Thank Merlin! _Something_ happened at last!

Tom peered over his counter as he heard voices filtering up from below.

"Everybody alright?" he asked, hoping that no one was hurt. He was met with a few voices, none of which seemed to be in any language he understood.

_"Why the hell are we in a ditch, Kakashi-sensei?" _

_"I believe you are sitting on my arm, Naruto-kun." _

_"GET YOUR BACK OFF MY FACE, NARUTO!" _

_"Che. How bothersome." _

_"Dobe. Your incessant yelling is not going to help us get out of this mess any faster." _

O-kaaaay… Maybe asking Merlin for a distraction wasn't the _greatest_ idea…

At this moment, one of the room-service ladies working at the Leaky Caldron walked in from her afternoon check-up, carrying a bag of laundry to be done. She looked at Tom then the hole in the floor, and knowing Tom's personality, shrugged the whole ordeal off as something normal and not out of the ordinary. Another lady walked into the room, saw the hole in the floor, looked up at Tom, then, seeing his gleeful expression and the nonchalant look on the room-service lady's face, shook her head and walked right back out muttering something indistinguishable.

Tom sighed. Just his luck! Things always seemed to happen at the wrong moment. Women! They never barge in on you when you're at your most charming, groomed, witty, and sane state. _This_ was why he was stuck in an inn working with a bunch of old crabs day-in and day-out!

Waaaaait… Wasn't it just a second ago that he wished for a distraction?

He made his way around the counter, past the tables, towards the hole and peered down… What he met surprised him.

There was a group of four – no – five (he had mistaken an orange outfit for a large duffel bag) oddly dressed people arguing amongst themselves in a curious fashion. Well, you couldn't really say they were arguing… Two of them – a blond and a pink-haired girl – were yelling at each other while the rest were trying to ignore them…

_"Naruto, you baka! You were the one who panicked and sent out your chakra in a form of attack!" _

_"Who said I panicked! I thought an enemy was nearby!" _

_"But look at what you did! We're stuck in an impossibly large ditch in the middle of nowhere, and we have no idea if we're at the right place!" _

_"Hey! I said it wasn't my fault! _

And they kept volleying back and forth while Tom scratched his head, wondering if they knew they were stuck in the middle of his inn. The gray-haired man off to the side seemed to have noticed him and looked up, acknowledging the innkeeper.

"Yo," he said, lifting his hand in a form of greeting. "Could you, by any chance, point us to The Leaky Cauldron? We seem to have gotten lost and fallen into this pit."

This apparently caused the two bickering teenagers to stop fighting altogether.

_"Hey! You never told us you could speak English!" _

_"Senseeeeei! Please get us out of here before this jerk annoys us any further!"_

_"Jerk! Who said I'm a jerk?" _

_"Me, dobe." _

"Yeah. I could point you to the Leaky Cauldron – you're in it. Or, should I say, under it?" Tom pointed to the hole they were stuck in. "It seems like you blew up the floor just now."

"Ah, I see. Sorry for the mess – first time using a transcontinental portkey. I'm afraid one of the students were unaccustomed to the side affects of using a transportation device."

Tom chuckled.

"That's fine. A bit o' accidental magic never hurt nobody. Well, at least not that I know of…" He looked down at the people again. "You need any help getting out? I've got a few spare rope ladders down the hall incase something like this ever happened."

The man looked around then shook his head. "No, I think we're fine. I should be out in a second…" (4)

_POOF_!

The man reappeared beside Tom carrying a small traveling case with what he assumed to be his clothes. Now that they were on the same floor, Tom noticed that the stranger was wearing a facemask and a green vest. Surely it was a bit too warm to be wearing more clothes than necessary! The man hardly seemed to notice Tom's starring, but was instead crouching at the edge of the hole and calling his fellow… er, companions…

_"You four need to get out by yourselves. I'll be checking in with the manager and get a few rooms to ourselves. Meet me by the time I get the room keys or you'll be sleeping on the ground."_

With that, Kakashi turned to go to the check-in counter. Tom had a funny look on his face.

"Eh? Don't you want to help them out?" he asked, pointing back to the hole. The stranger looked at Tom and shrugged it off.

"Nah. They should be able to do it themselves."

"Hmm… But they're mighty young to know how to Appara-"

The sound of three _poofs_! filled the room.

"Okay. Never mind…"

Then after a few seconds…

"Hey! Where's that blond kid?" As if to answer his question, Tom heard a loud unintelligible voice yelling from the bottom of the pit.

_"DAMMIT! GET ME A ROPE OR SOMETHING! I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO THAT STUPID 'POOF!' THING YET! GET ME A ROPE, I TELL YOU!"_

The pink-haired girl sighed in exasperation before spinning on her heels to yell something back at the blond. Though he had no clue what they were saying, it was obvious that she was berating the boy.

Tom started to say, "I'll go get the rope then," when he heard the boy yelling again to what seemed like no one in particular.

_"FINE THEN! IF NO ONE WILL HELP ME OUT, THEN I'LL JUST DO IT MYSELF! **KAGE-BUSHIN NO JUTSU!**"_

A bunch of replicas of the blond boy appeared out of nowhere and started helping the original guy up by stacking on top of one another. One of the other boys – the one with earrings and a ponytail – who had recently been quiet, spoke up.

_"So much for being discreet."_

The boy with bangs looked slightly annoyed. When he spoke, his voice reflected his mood and set Tom on an edge. He didn't know that young teenagers were capable of exhibiting so much malice in their words.

_"Baka! We weren't supposed to show-off our jutsu like that! No one's supposed to know that we're not wizards!" _

The blond kid managed to pull himself up and there was another loud 'poof!' as twenty or so clones disappeared into a pile of smoke.

"Neat little trick there, chap," Tom congratulated, patting the kid on the back, which nearly sent him tumbling back into the pit.

_"Hey! Watch it old man!"_

The gray-haired man shrugged his shoulders before saying to himself, "Looks like no one sleeps on the floor tonight." He straightened himself up before extending a hand toward the other man. "Hello. I'm Kakashi."

"Tom," he said, returning a hand while smiling from ear to ear.

* * *

Approximately thirty minutes later, Sakura sighed in relief as she sank into her bed. It was a pretty decent room with two poster beds that overlooked the rest of London. So far, she didn't have to share it with anybody, and that was good news. Being stuck with four guys certainly didn't suit her very much. Now if only she could figure out a way to remove the language barrier…

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at her door.

"Sakura-chan," came Kakashi's voice from the other side of the wood.

"Hai," she answered. "It's open."

Kakashi opened the door and pointed down the hall. "I'll be out for just a little bit, so be sure to stay in the inn. We'll go get your school supplies tomorrow, so don't venture off too far."

With that, he vanished, leaving the young kunoichi pondering what in the world her sensei was up to this time…

"Oi, OI!" A blur of orange shot straight into her room. "Where's the old man!" he demanded, looking about for any traces of his teacher. Sakura did what came natural to her when she saw something invading her territory without her permission. She threw.

Or it was more accurate to say, she threw something – the nearest object that was available to her. Which, fortunately for Naruto, wasn't a bunch of shuriken or kunai (she kept those in her side pouch). No, what was currently in her hands was a book she borrowed from Tom with Kakashi's help. A big, very _heavy_ book. It landed with a thud after bouncing off of Naruto.

"GAH! Are you _trying_ to kill me?"

She huffed.

"How long did it take you to figure that out?"

_'Serves you right!' _

Naruto scowled, rubbing the back of his head. He was _sure_ there was a big welt forming already where the book had hit him.

"I just wanted to know where the old man went," he frowned, trying to make her feel guilty for the pain she caused him. Sakura just turned her nose away.

"He just stepped out. Didn't say where."

"ARGH! I'm gonna _get_ that closed-book pervert the minute he gets back!" he hollered into the ceiling.

"Not if we tie you up and chain you to the bed first," Shikamaru grumbled, stepping into the room with his arms crossed. Not too far behind, Sasuke followed equally as annoyed.

"But I don't want to be stuck in the same room as him!" Naruto whined.

"Then I'll switch rooms with you," Sasuke said, agitation evident. "Just _stop_ making so much noise!" The other two nodded in agreement.

"Fine, fine," Naruto waved his hand. "Just don't get your pretty head worried. I'll shut up for now." He left the room still massaging his head. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at this peculiar behavior.

"Just what did you throw at him?"

Sakura pointed to the book on the floor. Sasuke took a look at it before smiling wryly.

"You threw a ten pound weight a distance of five meters at a fellow teammate's head?" Shikamaru asked. "What were you trying to do woman – kill him?" (5)

It was at this point Sasuke left the room saying, "Better move my stuff before the idiot starts complaining again." Shikamaru stopped wondering how on earth Team 7 had survived the past few months without tearing themselves to shreds. It was a miracle that Naruto lived as long as he did with all the mischief he had been getting into.

"That man had better not be getting himself into trouble," he muttered before also leaving Sakura's room.

Little was it known that at that very moment, the aforementioned jounin was strolling along a very quiet road in Little Whinging, Surrey, passing by a little play park as the sun started setting and the streetlights flickered on…

**_To Be Continued…_**

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

1. Basically, Ino and Choji don't know how to play Go (and neither do I), so they are trying to find other uses for a Go board and a couple of black and white pieces of stone… Lol. Ino and the "Fifty-three ways to butcher a Go game!"

2. Shikamaru thinks that Kakashi's hiding something from them (which he has right to believe so). The genin weren't told about Harry Potter's background, only that he was their client. So they have no idea what kind of a person they're protecting. They also don't know his name or the fact that he is linked to the "dark force" they are trying to spy upon. Nothing ever slips past our Shikamaru! By the way, whenever I refer to 'Team 7' or 'the genin', I'm including Shikamaru in the description even though he doesn't belong in either category. It'd be too much of a hassle to address him separately each time.

3. I totally made that up. Portkeys don't come with a ten-second warning, but I thought it'd be nice and considerate of Dumbledore to do that for them…

4. Tom thinks that the Leaf-nin are just foreign wizards, so he sees all these ninja skills being pulled off and just attributes them to magic. Question: does anyone know if Tom knows how to use magic? I don't know if he's a squib or not… (looks around, shifty eyed)

5. Lol. Shikamaru's outburst was nearly the same as Naruto's. Ten pounds is a lot to throw. Five meters is a very far distance to throw it using only one arm (believe me, I tried using my sister's backpack. Well, that doesn't count – I'm a weakling). One of those super-human instances you don't get to see a lot when Sakura is caught by surprise. Oh, and sorry about the measuring system clash. I don't know how to convert between the metric and English systems as of yet (either that, or I forgot because I'm not taking a science class this year). You also don't find a lot of ten-pound books everywhere.

Parings: Not doing any for the time being. I repeat, NONE! I am a horrible romance/angst writer if you haven't noticed (see I Am Not Alone for reference), so I don't want to scare people away by writing fluff for the time being.

Houses: I kinda already know which house to put each person. It's not what you'd normally expect, so I won't be surprised if there are a few flames in my inbox when I post that chapter up. I repeat, HOUSE SORTINGS WILL NOT BE AS EXPECTED. But hey, I'm going to try to make it as reasonable as possible, so bear with me.

Inconsistent Information: I don't have a beta reader other than my siblings (and they're younger than me by a good many years, so I don't know how valid that would be). I don't have access to any of the manga or the anime of Naruto, and the Harry Potter books/movies are out of my reach… T.T – so excuse all my mistakes or point them out to me nicely please…

Length: If you want the chapters longer or shorter, please tell me. The longer it is, the more time it takes (but I'll end up procrastinating so it'll take long in either case). I'll try not to rush chapters too much, being that that tends to me writing myself into a corner…

_Yatsuka Hikagi _

_October 19, 2004_


	5. Fleeting Visions

Severus Snape had, in all of his years as a Hogwarts teacher, never been so reduced as to doing petty chores for the Order. He was the precious spy risking life and limb in the top ranks of the Dark Lord's inner circle, leaking valuable information out to Dumbledore and his group of what he called 'hero-wannabes'…

Which was why he felt insulted when Albus had personally asked him to check up on their little celebrity by stopping by Privet Drive later on in the morning…

Him, check up on Potter? _Please_. As if the man didn't have anything better to do.

But he nevertheless agreed. Tonks was busy in Scotland posing as one of the new lower-leveled followers of the Dark Lord. Lupin was, at the moment, sleeping the day away after last night's full moon. Moody was trying to get the Ministry from putting him on trial after one of his usual paranoid attacks on a poor mailman who happened to have delivered the newspaper to the wrong door. All of the other professors and members were busy on vacation or currently indispensable for the time being, and that left only himself and the Weasleys to fulfill the Headmaster's request. Snape snorted.

The Weasleys. They would have managed to get the whole neighborhood into an uproar with their muggle-loving attitude and their penchant for causing trouble before they would have been able to confirm Harry's state of being.

After putting on what he considered 'proper attire', the Potions Master prepared to Apparate to Little Whinging from Diagon Alley. From what he had heard, Harry's relatives had a distinct fear for anything that was related to magic. Perhaps, dressing in his usual robe would intimidate them just a little bit…

But what he hadn't counted on was being attacked and knocked out by a figure that Apparated in front of him in the middle of the street, moments before he had been able to reach the Dursleys.

* * *

**In Way of Trouble**

Chapter 05: "Fleeting Visions"

By Hikagi

* * *

The first thing he realized was that he was running really, _really_ fast.

Like, _Firebolt_ fast…

He mildly noted that he wasn't much of an athletic person, and that moving like this wasn't possible for him or for any human being at all. An image of Dudley chasing him up a tree with a bulldog surfaced briefly as well as the figure of a plump lady inflating to the size of a small baby whale. Reconsidering what was happening, he wondered where this vast forest had come from – there certainly weren't any big mountains where he lived either… As strange as the new environment seemed, it was nothing compared to what he had experienced before.

His mind was still a little bit hazed and it seemed like he had just awoken from a dream or a trance-like state. The term 'death ritual' flashed through his mind briefly as he tried to sort out what exactly was going on. All the while, words kept floating up from what he assumed to be his memory, though the terminology was new yet familiar at the same time.

There was this feeling of urgency, a voice that was calling out to him, begging him, ordering him with all speed to reach a certain destination ('country border,' was the word that came up) that was just beyond the forest. And that was just what he was doing – running with all his might. The reason was unknown and vague, but it had something to do with the idea of revenge and limitless power. The trees were sweeping past him, the individual branches and trunks too blurred to count them. He was sprinting as fast as his legs would go though he recognized neither the setting nor the clothes that were put on his back.

Plus the small and insignificant fact that he was being chased by dangerous and lethal beings…

By who or why was beyond him, but there were people running not too far behind. As far as he could tell, he had a group of friend backing him up as well, trying to give him time to run from the scene – especially one particular blond boy…

As if to respond to this train of thought, a voice called out somewhat muffled by the long distance between them.

"You cowardly bastard! Just wait until I catch up with you! I'm going to make you regret ever leaving us in the first place!"

But Harry kept on running, leaping from tree-branch to tree-branch, not even bothering to take a break from exhaustion or fatigue. He wasn't tired anyway. Brushing his hair out of his eyes, he noticed that he didn't have his glasses on either. Contacts, maybe? But this was given very little thought as something came flying from behind and hit the tree he had just leapt from. Crouching down on the floor, Harry took one look back as he saw the blond figure steadily draw closer before continuing in the direction he had been going…

* * *

He finally reached it – the waterfall; the edge of the country; the only thing standing in the way between him and his future. Behind him was the past, that unforgettable pit of malice and hell… There, he was revered as the boy who survived a horrible massacre – the only one ever known to have escaped his terrible fate… The distant noise of a subtle shock wave made the birds scatter into the air as two enemies fought over his flight from home.

His allies should have gotten rid of all of the pesky insects that were chasing him. Especially if what his senses told him were true – the redheaded pest was chasing him too… He was the only one even worth putting any effort into fighting – the smart brainiac, the bumbling chubby boy, the annoying blond git – they were just flies… He looked forward to dueling again…. Their previous match had been interrupted the last time by an unfortunate turn of events…

He half expected the redhead to step out from the shadows. When he sensed someone starting to speak, he couldn't help but feel that his anticipation for the much-waited opponent fell drastically. It wasn't who he wished it to be…

"Why do you hate him?" the figure from the shadows said. "Why do you try so hard to gain power to defeat this guy?"

The voice came from behind. Without looking, Harry knew who it was, who was following him, what he wanted… He whirled around, bringing up his past to memory, reliving his hurt, his pain, his suffering…

"And why do _you_ want to know?"

The blond figure shrugged, seemingly unfazed by the murderous glare, unmoved by the 'killer intent' rising in the atmosphere.

"Orders from the old hag herself… Ever since the old guy in charge died, she's been acting as the commander-in-chief of the place… You should have known that – it wasn't that long ago…"

He didn't, but the blond did not seem to realize this. Harry hadn't been paying attention to the recent turn of events… _Who_ died? _Who_ took charge? The other boy became quiet, and for a while the wind exchanged the unspoken words between the two. The blond boy spoke up, this time stating what was on both of their minds.

"It's not like running away will get you anywhere…"

Harry felt the tips of his eyes grow hot with energy, anger building up at the very pit of his stomach with every step the boy took to get closer to him.

"Why? You want to know _why_?" he asked, answering the first question that had been spoken when the two met just now. "He _killed_ MY PARENTS! THAT'S _WHY_!"

He could see her – his mother – screaming in agony as she drew her last breath before the killer left her there, her body an empty shell without her soul encased within… This was just a part of his imagination, he knew. He never got to see her die… Or did he? Conflicting images kept coming to him, flooding his senses with unfamiliar scenes… He was much too young to have remembered the details… But something else inside of him told otherwise – she was dead before he could have gotten home from training that day…

"He killed my family! He took everything away from me!"

The thing was that the words coming out of his mouth were automatic as if it he was in someone else's body. These emotions… these memories… even these movements (last time _he_ checked, he could _not_ perform a somersault from the top of a tree branch to the floor twenty feet below)… they weren't his, that was for sure… Yet at the same time, they were…

He felt like a mannequin on tape stuck in 'play' mode. He couldn't control what he was doing, what he was saying… Everything seemed to go on with or without his consent. He was a soul trapped within a body that moved on its own…

It was strange… No matter how hard he tried, Harry couldn't get anything straight. For instance, he _knew_ that he went to Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. But a little voice in his head said that he'd been going to an _academy_ for all of his life… He couldn't recall what his family looked like either…

"He made my life miserable – a living hell! _He_ is the reason why I'm famous! Why I'm _infamous_!"

First his mother had red hair and green eyes, then she had black hair and dark eyes. Harry's mom was a _shufu_ ('a housewife'), then she was working along side of a Ministry. She was brave and brilliant, and then quiet and soft-spoken. First she would see him off to school with his backpack and lunch pail, then he would get a glimpse of her through the Mirror of Erised – see her scream through the Dementors' horrid visions…

He didn't know what was going on, why this person in front of him had made him so angry. As far as he knew, Draco would never act this way – to stand before him to ask why he hated _Voldemort_ so. Wasn't it Malfoy who wanted to team up with the Dark Lord in the first place?

"_That bastard killed them all!_"

He silently slipped a hand inside a pocket and picked up something vaguely familiar. Closing his fist around his weapon, he clenched his teeth and spat out his last warning, hoping that his opponent would step aside, hoping at the same time that he wouldn't.

"Now get out of my way before _I_ kill _you_!"

His opponent merely scoffed.

"You think I'm going to lose to a wimp like you? Forget it!"

Fingering what he assumed to be his wand (he wasn't sure – everything seemed to be so out of place), Harry grinned fiercely, eyes filled with lust for blood. He brought out his weapon and started twirling around on his index finger.

"I'm warning you," Harry said evenly with deliberate coolness. _"Get. Out. Of. My. WAY!"_

He raised the right hand over his head, the object grasped firmly with relative ease. He wanted to shout _'Expelliramus'_ at the top of his lungs to disarm the opponent who sported a similar weapon as the one he himself was carrying. Heck, he wanted to shout a lot of things at this guy – '_Stupefy_' – '_Crucio_' – '_Avada_ _Kedavra_' – each worse then the last… But things did not turn out the way he expected…

As fast as he had raised his hand, his opponent shot something in his general direction. It was a conjured metal object that was magicked to follow heat signatures. Thinking quickly, Harry jumped aside, allowing the projectile to sweep past him back to its owner. They brandished their weapons again before slowly moving their feet in an almost dance-like way, circling around each other without regards to the time that was passing by.

The deafening roar of the falling water had no impact as the two 'mortal rivals' stood in complete silence, anticipating their opponent's next move.

After a few more minutes of tediously attacking and blocking, Harry made a more daring move and sent the blond teen somersaulting with a well-aimed kick to the chest. The boy retaliated and charged, throwing Harry over the waterfall to the perilous rocks below. But before he could fall into the water, he was surprised to see that he was standing on the cliff-side with a magical charm placed on the bottom of his feet to keep him from losing his grip.

And the blond charged at him again, pausing only to regain his balance as they slowly fought their way down the cliff and onto solid land again. All the while, Harry's anger continued to grow with an unknown hatred, fueling his adrenaline, coaxing him to keep on fighting.

And by mistake, he had tapped something deep inside of his very being… The white-hot anger that had been boiling inside had finally burst into flame. It was as if time itself had slowed down allowing him to see things before they even happened.

He felt powerful. The raw energy that was built within him had come out of his right hand, forming a barrier of magic so strong and majestic that he had at first mistaken it for the Patronus Charm. But _his_ Corpeal Patronus was a stag, not some shapeless ball of energy that crackled with each jolt.

And the blond boy wasn't a bit fazed. He too had a mass of energy formed within his hand as he waited for Harry to finish preparing his attack. By now, the two had backed away from each other long enough to put considerable distance between them. Unable to wait any longer, the blond starting sprinting at the black-haired teen. Harry followed suit and started running as well, their meeting point destined somewhere near the bottom of the waterfall…

_"SASUKE!" _

Harry ignored the blond calling his name and chose to feed more energy into the spell he was casting. A burst of brilliant light shot out from his hand and connected with the other boy's attack… He heard himself yell something indistinguishable before he saw the two energies collide and erupt, emitting a force so radiant that he felt like he was going blind from its sheer magnitude…

_"DIE NARUTO!"_

There was an explosion that rocked the ground and sent a tremendous wave of pure energy that could be seen all the way from the watchtowers located in Konoha Gakure. Harry was knocked backwards and ran into the rock statue that was carved into the cliff side. His head started throbbing painfully as a prickling sensation started making his left shoulder burn as if it were on fire.

And the world started fading to black…

He dimly realized that the other boy was still breathing and he himself was losing consciousness. But as he felt his legs buckle underneath him, he woke up suddenly, clutching his bed covers while drenched in cold sweat… Looking around, he quickly identified all of the objects in the room as his own. What had just 'happened' had merely been _a dream_… The forest, the mountains, the waterfall – they had been a figment of his imagination. (1)

He was back home… As much as you could call a broken down and unwanted room, _home_… But Harry didn't care. Glancing at the clock that hung on the wall, he was startled to see that it was five past midnight – only a few minutes after had he fallen asleep.

He was now sixteen…

* * *

The next morning had turned out to be very interesting in the eyes of the spectators who watched the scene unfold before them in the usually calm and quiet corridors of the Leaky Cauldron.

First there had been an unusual girl roaming around the hallway, knocking on random doors. Nothing was strange except for the fact that she had pink hair and did not speak a work of English, or anything vaguely familiar for that matter.

Then there had been another teenager roaming the hallways, also asking random people a few questions in the same jargon. He seemed to be very agitated for he constantly scratched his blond hair and spoke in great volumes when (he thought) no one was listening.

Others had seen an oddly good-looking black-haired boy sitting in the dining room, absent-mindedly poking his breakfast with what appeared to be a set of thin wands. He was muttering under his breath while he played with his food, trying to pass the time by complaining to no one in particular. At least these eggs didn't turn a slight shade of green or magenta with his not-so-gentle prodding.

If there had been a translator available in the building, he or she would have immediately said that this occurrence was no big deal as the group of children was looking for their teacher who had mysteriously disappeared on them. The few people who had met these new strangers the day before were mildly curious, but did nothing to interact with them. New wizards came in every so often, and cultural barriers were a hindrance no one wanted to bother with.

Then again, having your only legal 'guardian' suddenly vanish in the middle of a strange and potentially dangerous world was an obstacle to be reckoned with. Kakashi-sensei had not shown up last night like he had promised he would, and the shinobi were getting increasingly worried. Not for the jounin's safety, but for the completion of their mission.

The pony-tailed boy? As far as anyone knew (which consisted of Tom and possibly one of the maids who cleaned the windows), he was sitting on the roof of the edifice, watching the gloomy grey clouds roll across the sky.

"London doesn't have the nice weather like 'China' does…" (2)

* * *

Harry woke up to the sounds of someone knocking harshly on the door. Quickly scrambling out of bed, he made sure that none of his wizarding materials could be seen underneath the bed covers as he cautiously approached the other side of his room. Carefully walking over the random objects lying on the floor, he reached the door with relative ease. The knocking stopped briefly to be replaced by a somewhat muffled voice on the other side.

"Wake up, _boy_, or you'll be scrubbing dishes before your _friends_ come and pick you up!"

"Yes, Aunt Petunia," he quickly answered. His aunt gruffed in reply before walking back downstairs to the kitchen.

Friends? Why would they be coming here? No one had really mentioned anything about visiting him on his birthday, not unless you counted owling gifts as 'visiting'… Besides, if this was the Durselys' idea of a birthday present, then it sure wasn't a good one. The best thing they could ever do to him would be to completely ignore him for the rest of the day instead of trying to give him whatever they considered good enough to be his 'presents'. Then again, Dobby would probably have liked the things Harry might just pass on instead of keeping for himself…

_Wait_… Ron _had_ hinted in one of his letters that someone from the Order might drop by to see how he was doing just in case the Dursleys had been mistreating him again. Harry just hoped that nothing drastic was going to happen like the last few times wizards had ended up interacting with his relatives.

'_Please_ don't let them blow-up the living room…'

As if on cue, Uncle Vernon's voice bellowed from the kitchen table.

"_BOY_! YOU'D BETTER MAKE SURE THOSE 'FRIENDS' OF YOURS DON'T DO ANYTHING STUPID!"

He groaned. If the Weasleys came, just _how_ was he going to keep them in line? He was hoping that perhaps some other member of the Order would drop by instead… But then again, 'visiting' wasn't the same as being 'picked up'… He wasn't sure, but neither of his friends had said that he was actually leaving the Dursleys any time soon. Maybe his aunt had gotten her hopes up just a tad bit too high this time around…

A sound interrupted his thoughts a he finally managed to put on a pair of decent jeans. After a few seconds, he registered that it was the doorbell – someone was already here! A pair of heavy-set footsteps quickly reached the door as Harry flung on a green sweater and scrambled out of his room, glasses hanging askew on his face. The sight that greeted him at the end of the staircase, however, made him wish he hadn't come out at all.

There was an intimidating man at the door with a stern face and briefcase in hand. He looked like what one would call a lawyer judging from his attire, clean-cut appearance, and imposing demeanor. The man cleared his throat and straightened his tie before acknowledging the people in the room.

"Excuse me, is there a Mr. Vernon Dursley residing in this house?"

Harry was hoping that this wasn't the man Dumbledore had sent because he looked a little too 'muggle' for anyone to take seriously. Don't forget scary. He looked too mean to be a friend as well. Then again, Mad Eye Moody was distorted enough to make anyone wary. A sharp, repulsedlook from the stranger that was directed to the Dursley's back made Harry grimace.

'Ouch. He doesn't seem like the type Dumbledore would send...'

But at least he hadn't been seen.

Dudley, on the other hand, was ecstatic that it wasn't one of _those_ people. This man looked like he was a businessman more than the wizards he feared, so he had no trouble warming up to the stranger. Harry took this chance to quickly sneak back upstairs and sat in the hallway. At least this way, he would be safe from being spotted _and_ he would still be able to hear what was going on in kitchen.

"Why, of course, good Sir," he replied, ushering the lawyer/businessman in. "He is in the dining room reading the morning paper."

"Thank you," he said, stepping out of the entrance way. "I hope I am not interrupting anything…"

"Of course not," Vernon answered. "Might I ask the occasion of this visit?"

"Ah, yes. Pardon my intrusion. My name is Severus Snape, and I am here from the ­­local Public Relations Department." (3)

At this point, Harry gave a start. _Snape_? As in _the_ Snape? What on earth's name was he doing here?

"Public Relations?"

"Yes, it is a branch of the government. I am a social worker."

Harry raised an eyebrow. _Social worker?_ Since when was Professor Snape working on behalf of the government?

"Oh, I see…" This time, Vernon was looking a little flustered. "I a-afraid I don't know exactly _why_ you would be visiting my ho--"

"I have received several anonymous tips from different people concerning the well-being of a certain individual in your household. Would you mind if I look around a bit?"

At this point, the Dursleys were dreading what was going to happen if the man were to go upstairs and discover a little disheveled boy sporting bruises on his arms and legs, wearing tattered clothing that was much too big on him…

"Why, of _course_," Vernon shakily stood up from his chair and pointed in the direction of the parlor room. "If you would please…" The man nodded in affirmation.

Before opening the door, Vernon turned to Dudley and said loud enough for Harry to hear clearly, "Why don't you go upstairs and clean any _trash_ from your room?"

It was understood that Harry had to make himself scarce. If the social worker were to find him in this state, then he would be taken away from his aunt and uncle's house. As much as he loved the idea, this was the only place that provided an adequate sense of protection and security to both himself and the rest of the Order of the Phoenix.

Protection from Voldemort, that is… His relatives still loved to abuse him by making him do an unreasonable amount of chores everyday while continually bossing him around. At least Death Eaters couldn't just barge in with the blood-charm whatchamacallit thing in place. Or at least, he hoped not…

Harry wasn't a specialist on charms or sacrifices, but he was betting his life on the fact that no one had ever tried to attack him inside Petunia's house yet. _Outside_ was a different matter… The Dementors from last summer were proof enough. Too bad the charm didn't keep away vengeful Muggles who had a knack of making Harry's life miserable either…

Dudley's labored climbing up the stairs made him jerk back to the problem at hand.

_Right. Social worker. Here…_

"Mum's said to bring you downstairs to the cupboard again," he said in the quietest whisper he could manage. Harry just followed the small giant down and sighed as Petunia signaled to his old room. He couldn't help but make sarcastic remarks to himself about the stupidity of the situation.

Vernon, on the other hand, was talking loudly to the 'guest' in order to cover up any noises that might have been made during the course of 'Find A Place to Hide Harry'.

After a great many minutes of hearing his uncle assert in a great voice that there was 'nothing he was hiding', Harry's feeling of unease lessened somewhat. The social worker had already visited upstairs and seemed to have found nothing out of the ordinary. Except…

"I am just curious, Mr. Dursley. Why is there an extra bed here when it is clear that there are only three occupants in the house?"

"Oh, _that's_ for my sister Marge. She usually visits us during the holidays and spends the weekend here."

"And leaves her personal belongings lying about the room?"

Harry heard a small curse escape from his uncle's mouth as they came back downstairs.

'Well, at least the _spiders_ seem to be happy to have me here…' he thought.

"Those are my little Dudder's things. He likes to work in the guest room sometimes when he can't concentrate in his own."

The man seemed to buy that explanation as he followed Vernon back towards where they had started.

"Ah, then I take it that he likes history?"

"Eh?" Vernon's confusion was made known in his voice.

The two adults stopped right in front of the cupboard where Harry was hiding. Trying to get a better view, the teenager chanced a quick peek through the metal vents on the door. Unfortunately, the man's back was facing him.

"History. Your son seems to have a keen interest on the earlier civilizations. Half of the things in that room were modeled after more traditional objects than the ones you find in the marketplace today."

The man shifted his weight a little, and for a brief instant, Harry saw something in the social worker's hands. Something that looked like it belonged back in his room under his desk…

"Like this quill for an example. British laws have long ago outlawed the making of calligraphy pens from quill feathers. Your son happened to have this extremely well-made imitation. I didn't know that they sold these things in the market."

Maybe Professor Snape had taken some Polyjuice Potion to make him _look_ like a Muggle so that he had a way of sneaking Harry out of his house without his relatives getting too worked up about it?

Impossible. Harry was _sure_ that the potion would have worn off by now if Snape had taken it before he entered the house. They had spent a long time talking in the parlor room about Uncle Vernon's business before taking their conversation out into the living room before actually going upstairs to do any searching around. Besides, the Snape he knew wasn't that much of a Muggle know-it-all. There was _no way_ that he would have been able to come up with all that crap about working for the government and such…

His uncle looked like he was sweating bullets as he started staring in the direction of a not-so-insignificant cupboard under the staircase. Harry himself felt the way his uncle looked. How the heck did this guy find his Hogwarts things?

"Y-yes. It appears to be that way…"

For a brief second, the man stared hard at the object in his hands as if trying to bore a hole through it before handing it to Vernon.

"I'd best be going now. My superiors would want me to finish my report as soon as possible." His uncle dumbly nodded as an answer before showing the man to the door. Harry breathed a sigh of relief. After the man went away, he would be able to wait for his friends in peace…

Maybe, just _maybe_ it was possible that there was (as much as he hated the thought) _another_ Severus Snape in this world… One who looked younger, had his _brown_ hair trimmed in a barber shop, wore an expensive suit, (hopefully had no relation to his Potions Master) and didn't work for Hogwarts?

Improbable, but not impossible…

"Oh, there was one thing I forgot to do…" The man stopped walking towards the door and faced the Petunia and Dudley who had just emerged from hiding in the kitchen.

"Do any of you know of a Harry Potter?"

Harry's breathing quickened. The idea of the man being an ordinary Muggle was half-tossed out the window by now… If it really _had_ been Professor Snape, wouldn't he have turned back within an hour after coming here?

Or maybe it was possible that the whole this-guy-has-the-same-name-as-someone-I-know thing wasn't a weird coincidence at all, but a Death Eater in disguise using the Professor's name to buy Harry a false sense of security?

_Definitely_ not impossible…

"Harry Potter? Never heard of him. My sister was married to a man named Potter, but they died years ago in a car accident after they had too much to drink from a Halloween party."

Fortunately, Harry had enough sense to keep from rebutting his aunt's lie. But that didn't stop the boards from creaking when he moved around to keep the circulation in his legs from getting cut off. Plus it didn't help that his elbow ran into a shelf and knocked off a bowling ball and a few other objects such as shoes and umbrellas from the weakened boards. Harry didn't realize that the Dursleys had filled the old closet with a few things after he had moved out. From the silence in the rest of the room, Harry assumed that the others had heard him moving and the objects falling as well.

"What exactly are you trying to hide from me, Dursley? Is it something you don't want me to find?" the man asked in an almost dangerous tone.

As if shaken by his state of panic, Vernon cast a wary look at the cupboard.

"Is it, by chance, hidden in that place under the stairs? I've noticed that you tended to glance in that direction every time I hit upon a tedious subject."

_'Oh crapcrapcrapcrapcr-'_

The last thing he wanted was to be discovered after all the hiding he had done.

And quite suddenly, Harry Potter found himself staring face-to-face with a man he had never met before in his life.

"Hello, Mr. Potter. Good to be finally meeting you at last."

**_To Be Continued…_**

* * *

**Author's Notes: **

1. What I was trying to get across was that Harry dreamed that he was Sasuke (kinda like that whole episode where Harry thought he was the snake?). He still retains his memory as Harry, but at the same time kinda gets a glimpse into Uchiha's life. So he had a very mild case of identity crisis while he was trying to figure out what exactly was going on. The words that randomly float up are like explanations for the things he's not familiar with and give Harry something to think about. He thinks that this is one of those made-up dreams people conjure after watching a movie or something. But you know better, right? Just about everything here was done on purpose.

2. I'm totally making this up. I know that the five shinobi countries do not exist in the wizarding world, but the map that Kakashi used to illustrate one of his points in the second volume has a striking resemblance to the map of China. Except that the Hidden Cloud is where the Yellow Sea resides, amongst a bunch of other things… You know how the wizards have supposedly blocked off their ministry and schools from modern technology? So have the ninjas. At least, that's what I'm implying. How else can they escape from being noticed with the satellites and all? But yeah, the whole concept is weird… Who's ever heard of ninjas in China speaking Japanese? XD

3. I know nothing about this either. Totally BS-ing the info here as well…

Now that you know about these, feel free to re-read the chap and see if things make a little more sense… If you disagree or have some doubts, ask a question. Just keep in mind that I already mentioned that it's AU and I'm taking **a lot** of liberty with both series… If you spot any mistakes, please notify me at once. I'd like to acknowledge them by the next chapter, or watch out for any more potential ones.

Lol. And just for my amusement, can you guys tell me what you thought was going on? I just wanted to know… 'Cuz I was trying not to mention names beforehand to give it away… Btw, Harry's dream _should_ look familiar to you… It was my tweaked version of the battle between Naruto and Sasuke while Uchiha was trying to run to Orochimaru… I'll be posting more information about what happened in flashback modes sometime in future chapters.

Thanks to all of the wonderful people who have read and reviewed this story. Hugs go to the people who have encouraged me to continue to write despite my horrendous flaws and mistakes that keep popping up right and left. I heart you guys.

_Yatsuka Hikagi _

_February 19, 2005  
_


	6. Forget Me Not

A few hours after the next sunrise, Hatake Kakashi had risen from his night's post on top of a street lamp. Nothing unusual had happened except for a cat that kept on wandering between the house he was watching and the one adjacent to it. But now that the sun was up, the jounin stretched his neck and sighed. Keeping up his genjutsu had been difficult, but manageable. No one had suspected a thing.

Well, at least not yet…

And out of the corner of his visible eye, he happened to see something out of the ordinary. A suspicious-looking man wearing a hood in billowing black robes had appeared out of nowhere and was heading straight for the house he had under surveillance.

It was at this time that the jounin decided to intervene…

* * *

The last thing he remembered was a pair of dangerously haughty eyes that seemed to look down upon him with disdain and a spell that made him give up information he hadn't been willing to part with.

"State your name and purpose."

"I am Severus Snape, Potions Master of Hogwarts Witchcraft and Wizardry. I am here to see to the well-being of Mr. Harry James Potter residing with a Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Dursley on Albus Dumbledore's behalf…"

He tried to fight it – what ever was causing him to behave like a puppet that behaved very much like what an _Imperio_ would do. His captor seemed to notice his resistance and smirked at his futile attempt.

"Nice try."

Then something hit the back of his neck that made a wave of black sweep across his vision.

* * *

**In Way of Trouble**

Chapter 06: "Forget Me Not"

By Hikagi

* * *

It was after many hours upon discovering that Kakashi-sensei was missing (well, since last night) that they started to get extremely worried. Sakura was pacing back and forth in their designated meeting room, which happened to be hers for the time being due to the ample amount of space available. Sasuke was leafing through one of many books Sakura had been trying to decipher yesterday, scowling at the language that seemed to have no rhythm or rhyme. The alphabet was simple enough with twenty-six letters – at least they didn't have to bother with two sets of basic letters _and_ the bazillion kanji characters – but everything else was difficult. The grammatical structure, verb tenses, articles, plurality and all that other crap didn't make too much sense in his mind.

And while the Uchiha prodigy was studying about the native language in the vicinity, Naruto was busy admiring the weird gadgets that filled the room. Sounds like 'what's this?' 'hey looket that!' and 'cool!' came from his mouth everything he poked at the random objects.

Usually their instructor was only three hours late, if things were going well. Sometimes he would claim that it was to keep them on their toes, but that excuse didn't work too well. During the more peaceful seasons, his punctuality was always an issue. After the attack on the Hidden Leaf, however, there were too many missions to sort through for anyone to goof off. But this time, he didn't show up at all. No warning, no notice, no "I'm sorry I'm late!" speech.

"You guys! This looks like a light bulb!" Naruto's sudden proclamation shook Sakura's thoughts out of her head.

"That's because it _is_ one, Naruto," she answered.

"I know, I know," he replied while edging closer to the rest of his group. As if he were about to reveal a great secret, he lowered his voice and pronounced in an excited whisper, "But check this out: it doesn't turn on!"

And usually, Naruto was a complete idiot. But he had a point here. Most of the items in the 'wizarding' world didn't seem to run off of electricity. So how did things work then?

"It's simple."

Shikamaru peeled himself off the wall on the other side of the room.

"These people rely on their chakra to supply the energy needed to support all their appliances."

Not really understanding much about the foreign environment and its gadgets, Sakura probed him for more information.

"Eh? How do you do that?"

Shikamaru paused a little as if to gather his thoughts.

"Well, since our worlds are on the opposite sides of the planet, I can't really explain how it came to be this way. But the Western world calls their chakra 'magic'." (1)

At this point, Naruto turned back to the light-bulb thing and proceeded to stare at it, as if willing it to turn on would make it do so. Sakura ignored him and continued her conversation.

"Why would they do that?"

He shrugged.

"I suppose it has a lot to do with the differences in culture. Asian philosophies tend to state that our spiritual energy is a natural part of all living creatures and our daily lives. Europeans, however, believe that this force is supernatural and is to be feared. That's why there are so many rumors and superstitions where wizards and witches are concerned."

_'Oh, so that's why…'_

"And what about the people who don't have a lot of _magic_ reserve?"

"I'm not too sure, but I believe that they don't get the opportunity to join the rest of the people who have magic. In order to get into their schools, you have to display a certain amount of ability."

She frowned.

"That's unfair! What about the people who have the knowledge of the wizarding world, but don't have the power to study in its schools?"

Shikamaru mentally sighed and smashed himself on the head for starting this conversation in the first place. He _hated_ explaining things to people because they expected you to know all the answers to their questions. He would much rather be outside watching the clouds again… Call him strange, but the way they drifted across the sky was very different than the way they floated above the buildings of Konoha Gakure.

"Those people are called _'squibs'_. From what I understand, they would be very much like the ninja who have never passed the academy or attended one in the first place. On the other hand, there are people who have never heard of the magical community until their children exhibit promising qualities."

"Then what are those people called?"

"The term for non magical folk is _'muggle'_. Children who come from these families are called _'muggle-born'_."

"What I don't understand is the level of name-calling in this society. It's almost as if they want to remain separated from the rest of the groups. Why do people place names on others?"

"It's not only in this country. Konoha Gakure does it too, although you might not realize it. There's the Hyuuga clan – they separated themselves into the Main and House branches to demonstrate their superiority, remember?"

'_Like Neji,'_ was implied, but Shikamaru didn't have to say it out loud for the kunoichi to catch his drift. She understood, and nodded silently to herself, dropping her gaze to the floor.

"Oh… I see…"

* * *

"Ministry of Magic?" Sakura asked a few minutes later after Sasuke and Shikamaru brought up the topic of looking for Kakashi-sensei.

"Yeah. It's the name for the government here, kind of like what our Hokage does, except it's a group of people," the Uchiha explained.

Suspicious, Sakura fidgeted in her spot on the floor as they all sat in a circle.

"Where'd you learn of this?"

_'I hope you didn't threaten someone with a kunai or something…'_

As if sensing her thoughts, the chunnin raised an eyebrow.

"Some girl downstairs said that that was the most reasonable place to go look for him."

_'Oh…'_

And then…

_Poof!_

"Yo!"

Silence greeted the jounin.

"I'm sorry I'm late! You see, I was out all night watching over an interesting house in the middle of nowhere when a strange-looking person walked down the street and was clobbered by another weird person who showed up without a trace. Then he seemed to have noticed me because the next thing I knew, I was tied up and hanging upside-down next to the first guy who got jumped. Then the guy woke up and looked at me strange before trying to get out of his ropes before he got frustrated and asked me for help. Then there was a bunch of screaming inside the house, so I decided to go check it out after easily slipping out of the rope (the man looked surprised) and crawling up the wall and into the second floor. And then…" he trailed off. (2)

The three genin and one chunnin were looking at him strangely. Shikamaru's face clearly said, 'Is this what happens all the time?' The other three were casting suspicious glances in his general direction. Normally, any of the excuses he used were too mundane to be true. But this one was so completely random and strange that Team 7 didn't know if he had fabricated it or not.

'_Uso!'_ they all thought. But after so many frustrating hours of searching, they just completely shut down, and decided not to ask.

After a few seconds, Team 7 got up from their circle and everyone went back to what they had been doing approximately half an hour ago. Sakura flopped back on her bed while holding a book over her head, Naruto studied the random objects (while occasionally asking his jounin instructor something), and Sasuke ignored the rest of the team. Shikamaru sighed and announced that he would be somewhere else, and promptly disappeared through the window (which Sakura was _sure_ that couldn't be opened).

None of them seemed to notice that the door had slid open and another person had just entered the room and was watching their proceedings with an amused banter.

* * *

_Earlier that morning…_

"_Harry Potter? Never heard of him. My sister was married to a man named Potter, but they died years ago in a car accident after they had too much to drink from a Halloween party."_

_There was a crash followed by a few muffled thuds from under the stairway._

"_What exactly are you trying to hide from me, Dursley? Is it something you don't want me to find?" the man asked in an almost dangerous tone. "Is it, by chance, hidden in that place under the stairs? I've noticed that you tended to glance in that direction every time I hit upon a tedious subject."_

'Oh crapcrapcrapcrapcr-'

_And quite suddenly, Harry Potter found himself staring face-to-face with a man he had never seen before in his life._

"_Hello, Mr. Potter. Good to be finally meeting you at last."_

* * *

There was a slight prickling sensation in his legs and the back of his neck as the somewhat handsome man reached in and hauled the skinny teenager out of the closet. Vernon was going a shade of livid purple as he gapped for words.

"I… um… I, ah…"

The 'social worker' brushed off his pants from the settling closet dust and stood up to face Harry's uncle.

"I'm afraid we must leave you now," he said. He reached for the suitcase he had left next to the wall when he had first entered the Dursley's residence. Turning to Harry, he gave the boy a little nod, then started for the door. Vernon stormed up to his nephew and yanked on his arm.

"Get back to your room!" he whispered harshly. A voice from the door interrupted them.

"I don't think so."

The brown-haired man slowly turned around to gaze into their eyes. For an instant, Harry could have sworn that his eyes turned from a light brown color to black and back again. His hair turned into the lightest shade of gray. And that his neat suit fazed into some sort of weird navy getup before shifting once more to the clean-pressed attire. But as quickly as these changes happened, they disappeared, leaving The Boy Who Lived nothing more than a slight ache in is head and a strange sensation behind his eyes.

"I don't think you understand…"

'Severus Snape' shifted his glasses further up his nose before glaring at Vernon with an icy stare.

"He's coming with me."

Correction, _not_ Severus Snape…

* * *

_Ow._

That was the first coherent thought Snape could muster up when he returned to the land of the living. That and… _ow_.

There was a ringing sensation that was overwhelming him. It felt like Longbottom had taken a cauldron full of Swelling Potion, mixed it with a generous amount of the Weasley twins' Exploding Firecrackers, and had blown up the entire dungeon with him right next to it. Either that, or Black and Potter (without the consent of Pettigrew and Lupin) had managed to rig another one of their pranks in the Slytherin common room with the intention of maiming anyone within the vicinity… _again_.

Taking a good look at his surroundings, he barely registered the fact that it was sunny outside. There didn't appear to be too many people from up here, which was always a good thing. Too many muggles tended to make him uncomfortable and nervous. Come to think of it, too many people in general did not suit his likings.

_Wait a minute…_

_Outside?_

…_Up here?_

Snape took another look around.

Ye gads! What was he doing on a rooftop?

Trying to calm himself, he took a steadying breath and attempted to find his wand. That is, if whoever jumped him didn't take it in the first place.

Well, he _tried_ to look for it at least…

After wondering why he couldn't seem to move his arm, he realized that it was tied snuggly to his side. The waves of pain didn't help in his case either, since that was what was causing his nerves to not work properly in the first place. Cursing at his situation, he almost failed to see the man who was tied up next to him until he made himself known.

"Yo."

_'Gah!'_

Snape stared incredulously at the calm man who greeted him on top of a house, tied up and defenseless as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Who the _heck_ was this guy anyway?

"Looks like you're in a little trouble as well…"

Snape didn't trust himself to speak. The headache was going to make his speech unintelligible anyhow.

"Hey, how about if we get out of this mess?"

Finally bringing up the nerve (no pun intended even _with_ that incessant pounding in the back of his head), he gritted out a response.

"And how do you propose we do that?"

The man shrugged.

"Simple."

And he just bloody _stepped out of his bindings_.

"It's a basic skill from our academy days."

The man waited for Snape to do the same, but realized that he was unable to do so.

"… Here, lemme get that for you," he said while stepping closer to where the professor was neatly tied up.

* * *

The stranger slowly made his way closer to Vernon and Harry. Harry found himself shirking back, trying to hide behind his uncle. Who ever this guy was, he didn't seem trust worthy.

"As I said before, the boy is coming with me."

He had a bad feeling about this. And Hermione always said that his intuition was usually correct… It wasn't just one of those general bad feelings – the source of his discomfort seemed to center around the man himself. The only other time this had happened was around the Death Eaters, Voldemort himself, and those bloody Dementors…

But despite him trying to hide behind another person, the social worker reached out and grabbed at Harry.

"Y-you! Leave him alone!"

Harry didn't know that his uncle could find that much in himself to care for 'that blasted boy'. He would have been more touched if it weren't for the man who was trying to drag him away.

"Hey! Lemme go! Get your hands off me!"

It didn't seem like Vernon was thinking very clearly for he hurled himself at the man. In return, he got a sharp kick in the gut and a swipe to his face.

It was at this point when Petunia started screaming.

* * *

"There you go," the man said as the ropes fell with a soft thud onto the rooftop shingles. Snape took a glance at the severed bindings while he rubbed his sore wrists when he noticed a distinct smell that he recognized as burnt hair. How did he do that? He had no wand on him and had said no incantations (in Latin at least), but the guy was able to burn the ropes off of him.

Snape put all other thoughts aside and gave a curt nod to the stranger.

"I believe that the term is 'I owe you one'."

The stranger just waved a hand in response. There was a shrill voice that resounded through the roof tiles that immediately set the two men on edge.

"Forget it. I believe we have a more pressing issue at hand."

Snape reached for his wand on the inside of his professor's robes, but his hands grasped at nothing but empty space where his stick was supposed to be. Damn, so his captor _had_ taken it away. The other man noticed the Potions Master's predicament and audibly sighed.

"Unless you have any better suggestions…" he made a motion towards the brick statue that wasn't too far away from their current position.

Oh bloody _hell_ no. _Never_. He wasn't going to go down _that_.

"After you," Snape heard himself say. The man shrugged and nimbly climbed up the rough bricks before disappearing over the chimney edge.

This fool was _crazy._ If being stranded on top of a god-forsaken house was bad enough, he had to be marooned without his wand, without a portkey, _and_ with some nut case who was as loony as the Headmaster. Snape mildly realized the reason why he _hated_ traveling by Floo as he followed the foreigner down into the chimney.

…If he got stuck here like the Muggle Santa Claus, he was going to gleefully hex the man into oblivion… Just as soon as he got his wand back…

* * *

"I should kill you for your insolence!" the social worker hissed into Vernon's ear all the while holding a struggling Harry with his hands behind his back. Vernon merely whimpered pitifully as the man held a sharp knife at the edge of his throat. Dudley and Petunia could only sit back and watch in terror as the head of the house was being threatened by this unknown stranger.

Then there was something like gravel falling out of the chimney and what sounded like a large body landing in the grate of the fireplace.

"Well, it seems that the fireplace is closed off with an ample amount of wood," Harry heard someone say.

Cripes. If this guy had backup, then he was _really_ screwed. Where were the Order Members when you really needed them?

Just then, Harry felt another prickling sensation on the back of his neck as the voice from the chimney spoke out yet again.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" (3)

Quidditch instincts sinking in, he barely had enough time to let out a, "Duck!" to no one in particular before something exploded in the other room. The wood Vernon had used to seal off the fireplace after his first year's fiasco with the delivering owls (that had been reinforced with sturdier iron gates after the 'Weasley Incident') was blown out of its place by a wave of fire.

"Long time no see, traitor."

The man who still had a grip on his arms didn't seem at all fazed and instead merely greeted the figure that was carefully walking over the debris and rubble caused by forcing the grate outwards.

"Kakashi-san. How nice of you to join us today," Harry's captor said while offering the chimney-man a mock bow.

"I don't know what you are planning on, but you're not taking the boy."

The man known as Kakashi took careful steps towards Harry and the man who was holding him hostage.

"Me, planning? You know that pawns don't plan anything. I was merely here on orders."

And quite suddenly, pain erupted from the scar on his forehead, making the boy collapse in a heap on the floor. The social worker took an impossible leap backwards towards the door while the spiky-haired man rushed towards Harry's side.

"What did you do to him, Kabuto? What sort of curse seal did you use?"

'Kabuto' grinned in a haughty manner.

"Unfortunately, I didn't get to do anything to him."

"Then what is this on his forehead?" the man demanded while reaching for the metal plate that was covering the left side of his face.

Kabuto stopped smirking and replied in a serious, cold voice, "Maybe you should ask your new friend that."

It was then that Harry faintly realized through the haze around his vision and the pain that there was another figure in the room that was standing next to the fireplace.

_'Professor Snape!'_

The one-eyed man ignored that last comment and instead kept his attention on the person who had threatened Harry's life.

"I'll deal with you first."

"Ha. As cocky as ever, Kakashi. But no matter,I have no interest in fighting you."

"You're _not_ taking the boy."

"Maybe not today, but soon."

There was a fierce gust of wind as the front door slammed open with an unnatural force. Harry struggled to keep his eyes open, but a rustling sound over his head and the feeling of something rushing past his face made him flinch. As soon as he was able to see again, the man was gone, but the unspoken threat that the wind had carried was not.

_'Soon… We will meet again…'_

* * *

"Just who are you?" Harry demanded as soon as he got an ice pack from the freezer and applied it to his scar. The Dursleys had high-tailed it out of the kitchen and into the dinning room as soon as the group of unique individuals had started coming their way.

"Ah, that's supposed to be a secret, but my name's Kakashi. I helped your professor escape from the roof. Apparently we both got ambushed by the same guy."

Harry nodded while looking for some sort of painkiller for his headache.

"Now, what's this whole business about The Boy Who Lived?" Kakashi asked as Harry fingered a small white bottle of Advil on the shelf. The boy stared incredulously at the man.

"You don't know?"

He shrugged.

"You _could_ say that I'm not from around here."

Harry was at a loss for words.

"But I thought that the whole wizarding world knew!"

"That's because _he's_ not a wizard," Snape interjected as he walked over towards where Harry was, pointing a thumb in the other man's general direction.

"Wha-?" was his intelligent response as the Potions Master calmly took the bottle of medicine from his hands and started opening random cabinets located throughout the room. But Harry was a little too astounded to notice that his professor was currently going through his kitchen, looking for a glass of water.

"Is that true?" he asked while turning towards his rescuer again.

Kakashi scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"Ha ha… You got me there."

There was a slight pause as the Hogwarts professor found a cup in one of the shelves and filled it with sink water. He swallowed a headache pill before handing the cup and bottle to Harry.

"You're a shinobi, aren't you," Snape said after he made sure that the boy had taken the medicine as well.

"A shin-what?" Harry blurted out before he could stop himself.

"It's their term for '_ninja'_," Snape quickly explained.

* * *

"Are you sure that that is all there is to it?" Kakashi asked after Snape had given him a brief history about the war involving the Dark Lord and some of the main events that had led to the current situation.

_'He didn't include any of my escapades, but that just about sums it up…'_

The oily-haired man nodded in confirmation.

"Yes, I'm fairly certain. Unless Potter has something to add?"

Harry's head looked up sharply.

"No…"

"Well, in that case, I have to go." Kakashi dusted off his pants.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief, but just a moment too soon. Kakashi stopped just short of the front door before coming to a decision and waltzing back into the kitchen.

"But first, Mr. Potter…"

Harry straightened in his seat. Something wasn't right.

"I'm afraid I'll have to cast a memory jutsu on you."

Memory jutsu, as in _Obliviate_? No way!

"Do you object?"

Harry began forming the words for 'Hell yes!' when Snape interrupted his train of thought.

"Do as he says," he said, giving his consent for the jounin to do whatever he had in store.

"Well, I hope you don't mind, this will only take a second or two. It'll change the events you have just experienced until I release the skill, got it?" (4)

Harry gritted his teeth.

"You sure it's okay?" Kakashi asked once more, but it was directed more towards Snape this time.

"I have no objections," the man replied. Kakashi turned back towards Harry as he began moving his hands in a sequence of seals…

"Don't worry. It won't hurt a bit…"

* * *

And then he woke up.

A slight numb feeling in his left leg told him that it was asleep – he must have dozed off while Vernon was showing his guest around. It didn't seem like too much time had passed, but apparently it was enough for the social worker. The brown-haired man left after exchanging a few more words with his uncle and aunt without ever suspecting a thing. With a curt nod and a handshake, the source of the past few hours' worth of excitement and disturbance in their otherwise 'normal' life was gone out the door and out of their hair.

And if the closing of the front door wasn't a signal for Harry to come out of the closet, then he didn't know what was. Swinging the closet door wide open, the teenager gingerly stepped over the random objects that were strewn across the cramped floor. With the exception of a few sore or cramped muscles, he was relatively unharmed.

Fate must have been smiling down upon him for the Dursleys decided to leave him alone for the rest of the day. Not questioning his good luck, Harry made a dash for his room and started working on the Potions essay that was due at the start of the term.

As it turned out, there was another guest that arrived barely an hour later. When Petunia opened the door, Harry could hear her sputter from his room as she almost did not allow the visitor admittance. Curious, he carefully set his school things aside and sneaked towards the top of the stairs to get a good peek at the stranger.

'_Great – it's Snape.'_

"Mr. Potter," the professor acknowledged with a hint of disdain. At what, Harry wasn't too sure. It could have been the 'vibe' his muggle relatives were giving off, or it could have just been the man's hatred for James and any of his descendants. Either way, The Boy Who Lived was stuck with this guy.

"Come gather your things – we will be leaving for your manor in a little bit."

* * *

The front door to the unplottable house closed, vanishing into nothingness as did the rest of the house. The man who had been on the front steps walked back down towards the sidewalk, his task completed.

"Well, that takes care of this fiasco," another man said from a nearby tree branch.

"Indeed," the first figure replied. "I thank you for getting my wand back." The second jumped from his resting place and gracefully connected with the concrete.

"I trust I will be seeing you around at the start of the term then?" the first asked towards the second while straightening his robes.

"Ah – that remains to be seen… I haven't received all the details of my assignment yet."

* * *

A man in a crisp business suit walked down a dimly lit hallway with a suitcase in one hand and a set of what appeared to be keys in the other. He stopped in front of a particular corridor and plunged into the dark passageway, neither bothering to reach for a light or placing a hand on the wall.

After a few feet the passage made a sharp turn to the right, and then another to the left. Still in complete darkness, the man shifted his glasses and continued walking through the maze of forks and turns with intent and purpose in his steps. After many dizzying maneuvers, a light filtered in from overhead as the tunnel opened up to a vast underground chamber.

The man stepped into the light and his neat attire flickered off, revealing a pair of black shorts and shirt with a purple cloth tied around his waist. He knelt in reverence in front of a shadowy figure in the center of the room.

"Orochimaru-sama… Kakashi is here. It seems as if the Godaime sent him."

The man's lips curved upwards in a cruel smile.

"Ku ku… As expected. Was anyone else with him?"

"Just one of the professors."

"And what about his genin team?"

"As far as I could tell, they weren't with him at the time, but that could be because he decided to leave them elsewhere."

"I see. Good job, my servant."

A pause.

"What about Sasuke-kun?"

"Ho, ho! Do not worry about him – as I said before, he will come looking for me. The thirst for power drives him so."

"Should we tell the others about the arrival of the Konoha shinobi?"

"No need, no need. He will find out soon enough. Besides, they will add an interesting spin to our plans…"

"Hai."

* * *

Hermione Granger was taking the last bite out of her eggs while listening to a mild-mannered Neville Longbottom in the dinning hall of the Leaky Cauldron. They had met in the streets of Muggle London while heading for the entrance into the wizarding world through The Leaky Cauldron. Neville was stopping by today to get his school supplies as well as a few groceries that couldn't be found in the local supermarkets. His grandmother was currently in Diagon Alley looking for some new clothes and parchments – she told him that he could go wait outside for her.

They were chatting idly over trivial matters since they hadn't seen each other since school had let up last 'year'. Neville said that his mom seemed to be getting better. She said his name a few times in her sleep the last time he had gone to St. Mungo's to visit.

Why wasn't she at the Burrow? After last year's events, Dumbledore had deemed it hazardous for the Golden Trio to stay anywhere that was not heavily guarded by Order members. That included the Weasleys' small but cozy house on top of the hill despite it being the residence of six and a half (Ron wasn't quite old enough to be considered as one) members.

But after staying week after week in the late Sirius Black's gloomy mansion, Hermione had had enough. Order meetings and scrimmages had taken its toil on the brilliant witch as she sat in her dimly lit room desperately trying to study. What made it worse was that she _knew_ all of the horrendous attacks were happening, but she couldn't do anything to stop them. The Headmaster had specifically warned her against involving herself in any of the Death Eater battles since she was a likely target by Voldemort's orders.

That and the fact that the Ministry was _still_ slow on the up taking made her one extremely frustrated witch. She wasn't even allowed to send Harry detailed letters because the goddamn government was probably _still_ checking his mail. She had sent an encrypted letter to him a while ago saying that she might come and visit him, but failed to do so due to circumstances. Merlin _knew_ how horrible his relatives were!

After much debate and pleading, she was finally given permission to go to Little Whinging, Surrey as long as she was accompanied by a member of The Order. She consented, but her escort turned out to be Snape – and he refused to take her. Finally feed up, she decided to leave the shelter of Grimmauld Place. To hell with security and all that junk! If the Death Eaters really wanted her, then they would have found a way to get to her by this point in time. Besides, hadn't she survived on her own up until now? Wasn't she old enough and responsible for her own well being?

She took the opportunity to leave the headquarters of the main resistance against the Dark Lord the next morning when Snape left via the kitchen fire. Flooing to Diagon Alley, Hermione decided to lodge at The Leaky Cauldron. But due to the number of Hogwarts students filing in, Tom said that she might have to share a room with another person. She had agreed, but decided to check in after she did a little shopping in Muggle London.

Suddenly, a flustered boy ran into the room, interrupting their conversation. He stared at the two students before coming to a halt as if he didn't seem to know what to do. Finally, he tried to communicate with them through a series of hand gestures and broken sentences.

"You… have seen, man?" He made a motion for a height.

Hermione wasn't sure as to what she was supposed to make of him. The young teenage boy clearly needed some sort of assistance looking for someone, but with his accent and trouble forming coherent words, she didn't know if she could be of any help. Besides, there were hundreds of people in Diagon Alley – how could she be sure that she could find this man the boy was looking for when she didn't even know how he looked like?

"He…" the boy trailed off clearly frustrated.

"What he try to say, we look for our guardian."

The three turn around to see a lazy pony-tailed boy sitting on top of a bookshelf. The first boy half glared at the new comer who was speaking English at a relatively easier rate.

"He… ditched us yesterday…"

"Oh…" Hermione pondered. "Well, in that case, I suppose you could go down to the Ministry of Magic and submit a file of a missing person."

"Ministry of Magic?" the first boy echoed.

The pony-tailed teenager noticed the change in his friend's accent and looked up sharply.

_"Uchiha, stop it. You know you're not supposed to be using the Sharingan here. What if they notice?"_

Hermione turned to look at the black-haired boy. She didn't know what it was at first, but he looked… different, for lack of a better word. There was something clearly wrong with the picture. Neville seemed to have noticed because he nudged the girl with his elbows and whispered in her ears.

"Look at his eyes!"

Squinting as she did so, Hermione took a good look at the boy's eyes, noting that the irises had changed color. But as soon as she blinked, they were black, making her wonder if she had just imagined it in the first place. She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts.

Perhaps she had been expecting something strange when she turned and found, instead, something perfectly normal, so her mind conjured up the weirdness for her? Five years of attending Hogwarts with the infamous Harry Potter _and_ accompanying him on his adventures_ did_ tend to make one paranoid about strange and mysterious occurrences.

_"At least use a genjutsu next time…"_

"_Fine, Nara."_

With that exchange, the messy-haired foreigner frumpily stalked out of the room, leaving Hermione and Neville in a slight state of confusion.

"What's his problem?"

'Ponytails' sighed and rubbed his temples. "He had frustrating day…" (5)

* * *

"I don't like him, Hermione."

_Sigh._

_Really,_ if this was going to keep up, Hermione was going to say that Neville was starting to act more like Ron… Exasperated, she tried to reassure him that there was nothing strange about the foreign guest.

"Don't worry, Neville. We'll probably never see him again. He looked like a tourist."

He seemed unconvinced, but let the matter go.

"Well, I have to get going to Grams," he said after a moment's hesitation.

"I have to go to my room and introduce myself to someone. Tom said that I was going to share my room. Meet you back at school."

"Bye."

Hermione nodded and slowly trudged up the stairs that led to her room. She opened the door quietly, hoping not to disturb anyone if the room was occupied. Her supposed roommate looked up upon the bushy-haired girl's entrance and stared at her briefly. It didn't seem like she was alone in here either. The boy from earlier was busy reading some book in a corner of the room, and two other strangers were supposedly arguing with each other near the windows.

"Anata wa…" she trailed off with a slightly confused tone in her voice. The other three males turned to face the door and saw the newcomer. Hermione froze in place, not knowing what to do. From the looks of it, no one here knew how to speak her language! Where was that pony-tailed boy when you needed him?

The girl, at once sensing her discomfort, said a few words to her friends. They shrugged and left the room, shuffling past Hermione. The girl relaxed once her friends were gone and gave a small smile towards the Gryffindor prefect.

"Ohayou gozaimasu! Watashi wa Haruno Sakura desu. Anata no 'ruum meitu' desu yo."

Here, the pink-haired girl faltered, as if she wasn't too sure as to what she was to do next. After stumbling a little bit with a few words that sounded a bit like English, Hermione sighed and took out her wand.

"Here, let me help you with that."

She performed a temporary translation spell because she didn't know how to do a long lasting one (most of her charms faded off after an hour or so), and took a step back.

"That's better – but it should last only for a little while. Can you understand me now?"

The pink-haired girl blinked, before speaking up cautiously.

"Hello, my name is Sakura Haruno, and I'm your new roommate."

"Hermione Granger," she said, shaking hands. "I hope that my stay here won't bother you."

Sakura beamed.

"Not at all, Granger-san!" (6)

**_To Be Continued…_**

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Oi… I have a really bad habit of not getting off my lazy butt to write chapters anymore… Sometimes I wonder if I have Nara blood in me…

I tried to make the differences between native and non-native languages more reader-friendly, but there's only so much I can do… XD – plus, I suck at writing character interactions.

Updates: Doesn't look like they'll be any more regular than they've been the past… year… or so… On the other hand, the chapters are getting significantly longer (this last one was a bit _too_ long), so now I'm worried about the pace of the story in general. At this rate, I don't know if I'll ever finish. I'm considering about making the chapters shorter from now on unless the readers disagree… If you're wondering about my other current Naruto (NaruHina) fanfic I Am Not Alone, it's been discontinued/taken down.

Spoilers: please go to my profile and click on the links provided there. There are two that pertain to IWoT – one is the most recent spoiler for the next chapter, and the other is a folder that contains all previous bits of fanarts.

1. Magic versus Chakra: I'm sidestepping this whole issue here – aren't I a good lazy bum?

2. Kakashi's Story: Yes, I know that Kakashi's "explanation" contradicted what had actually gone on, but I'm just attributing that to his love for coming up with lies on a whim - you know, the whole I'm-sorry-I'm-three-hours-late-but-I-just-had-to-help-this-cat-out-of-a-tree-for-the-fifty-eighth-million-time-in-the-last-two-days gig.

3. Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu: Fire Element: Powerful Fireball Skill

4. Memory Jutsu: It made Harry's encounter with Kabuto be replaced by something that never happened. Kakashi made Harry forget about the whole "I'm holding you hostage" ordeal and instead constructed a 'memory' that the social worker was just that, and left the house after finding nothing.

5. Language Barriers: Some people asked why I couldn't have Sasuke just copy the entire English language off of someone using the Sharingan – after all, wasn't Kakashi able to speak English? Well, to make it short, I've decided that Sasuke's Bloodline Limit allows him to mimic the movements of other people, but not extract any knowledge that pertains to what he has copied; kinda like Echo from Greek Mythology. So Sasuke can repeat words and phrases back, but that doesn't mean he understands what he is saying. Kakashi, however, just happens to have studied the language before hand. Shikamaru, I have come to a conclusion, is a brilliant, but lazy, student – he figured the very basics of the language after watching Sasuke stumble through it all night while he was reading Sakura's borrowed book. Shika also listened to the random conversations from the rooftop and tried working out his accent while picking up idioms and expressions. That doesn't mean that he is fluent in it though. Sakura only knows from what little she has learned from the books available to her, and thus is more of a book student than one who would be able to speak the language – theory versus practice. Naruto, as you know, probably doesn't know a word nor will he care to ever pick up a book out of his own free will.

6. Honorifics: Since these don't really translate well into English, I've decided to keep them for the time being.

_Yatsuka Hikagi _

_June 09, 2005  
_


	7. Hush Little One

Albus Dumbledore was sitting in his office, looking at the contents of the last report he had been sent by Nymphoranda; she had subtly hinted that she was getting tired from the constant moving required with her role and had requested for a more stable, safer job. There was a soft popping sound as a small being suddenly came in to existence before his desk. Pushing his glasses further up his nose, the Headmaster calmly set down the pieces of paper and excused himself from his desk.

"Message for the Headmaster of Hogwarts," came a voice. Peering over the guest chair, Albus identified the speaker as a slug of some sort, although it seemed to be a bit on the large side. Accepting a roll of parchment, the wizard bowed in thanks and sent the messenger on its way. The slug made a nodding movement before poof-ing out of existence. He hesitated slightly before opening the letter, hoping that it wasn't bad news, and flicked his wand to undo the sealing spell. Seeing that it was consisted of what appeared to be Chinese characters, he chuckled lightly and cast a translation charm on the piece of paper. It read:

--

_Albus, I thank you kindly for setting up a secure network between my office and yours. The mirror reached me quite intact, I must say, and it is hanging in my chambers as I speak. However, I am afraid that I have not the time to contact you directly at this moment._

_There has been another attack, and even with our newfound alliance, my forces have taken a major blow to their numbers. I am sorry to say that I will not be able to join you this upcoming term as I am needed here to sort out a few matters. I apologize profusely for not being able to keep my end of the bargain of our deal._

_I hope that you will be able to find a teacher within such a short notice. Good luck to you and to your students as well._

_Sincerely,_

_The Fifth Hokage _(1)

--

Albus sighed and set the letter down on his desk, rubbing his temples with his other hand as he did so. Tsunade was too important of a figure to suddenly abandon her post at her village – he had forgotten to take account of possible wars between the hidden villages before asking her to come to Hogwarts. It had been a foolish idea, he had realized. If he had asked the other Sannin, things might have still gone according to plan. But now it seemed that even the legendary Jiraiya was going to be kept busy.

Reaching for a quill and a piece of parchment paper, he wrote a short request, asking the recipient to fill in the yet again empty teaching slot for Defense Against the Dark Arts…

"Fawks, would you be so kind as to deliver this for me?"

"Safer, more stable job indeed," he muttered quietly to himself with a small half-smile before attaching the letter to the phoenix's leg… (2)

* * *

**In Way of Trouble**

Chapter 07: "Hush, Little One"

By Hikagi

* * *

There was a slight knock on the door indicating that someone wished to speak with him immediately. Without waiting for a response, it opened and a figure in billowing black robes walked casually in.

"You called for me, Headmaster?"

Dumbledore waved a hand in front of him.

"Severus. Do take a seat."

There was a brief moment of silence as the Potions Master made his way to the chair situated in front of the Headmaster's desk. Dumbledore took this opportunity to start rummaging through one of the many hidden drawers of his desk, seemingly opening the same compartment a number of times before moving on to the next one right below.

"Ah, I do believe I have a pot or two of tea boiling in the fourth second drawer. Would you care for a cup? I recently found a startling discovery that spiced Indian tea tastes incredibly good compared to the usual Earl Grey."

"Not to be disrespectful, but I'm sure we have much more important things to talk about than our taste preferences," Severus Snape said in a deadpanned manner, already quite used to the way the elderly man liked to work. Still, he went through the usual pleasantries and eyebrow-raising questions such as the weather, the spotting of Dark Marks in the sky, and the past few years' Christmas presents ("I say, do you still have those pink and green trousers made of camel feathers from Norway?" – hence the eyebrow reaction and resulting subtle twitch) before the conversation was turned towards a more serious matter.

"Severus," Albus said after taking a few sips from his cup. "Why did you decide to bring Mr. Potter back to Grimmauld Place?"

"Albus," he approached. "I know that I was merely ordered to confirm his well being. However, a recent turn of events led me to the decision of taking him away from his relatives."

"Oh? And what caused that?"

"We were attacked."

"By whom?"

"I do not know."

Sighing, the Headmaster set his cup down on the saucer and allowed the teapot to fill it near to the brim. A spoon full of sugar materialized above the china and proceeded stirring its contents in an almost idle fashion. For a minute or so, Dumbledore starred at the spoon in the cup, his thoughts elsewhere.

"You do realize that had this been any sooner," he spoke in a quiet and almost defeated tone, "the Black Mansion would not have been secured at all in the least?"

"Yes, Headmaster."

Albus Dumbledore paused yet again, grateful for the number of things that could have gone wrong that didn't. At this point he let a half-hearted smile on his face before breathing out all the tension from his shoulders.

"However, it is by an _extremely_ fortunate string of chance that Mr. Potter's birthday happened to fall before his attempted kidnapping."

Snape stopped in mid-sip.

"Sir?"

Dumbledore looked away from Snape and turned instead to a window that would have shown a view of the Quidditch field on a sunny day. Right now nothing except for an inky blackness could be seen through the tinted glass, but the Headmaster seemed to be looking at something _outside_ of what was outside.

"A condition of this particular blood bond is that Mr. Potter _must_ spend the midnight before his birthday with his relatives." Dumbledore turned his attention back towards the Order member. "As you can see, he can leave even three minutes after the stroke of twelve and still be protected by this spell."

Snape nodded absentmindedly while studying his former Professor's eyes with the appearance of paying attention. They seemed to lack the luster and sparkle they held when he was in the presence of other Order members or students. Perhaps it was the company that caused the change, or maybe it was the fact that Dumbledore seemed to be comfortable enough around the Potions Master to not maintain his public face anymore.

"Also, I have just been able to confirm that Sirius had, as was custom of all Blacks, left a will of some sorts in his Gringott's vault shortly after Harry's third year as a precautionary measure."(3)

Of course. It would have been unwise if he had not, with all of the commotion of the former Azkaban prisoner being on the run and the Ministry being in hot pursuit. Or rather, in the prior months before his death, the faked search for the 'dangerous criminal' lead by Shaklebolt who was none other than a fellow member of the Order of the Phoenix.

The clock sitting on the shelf suddenly struck four in the morning, shaking the Professor out of his thoughts. The older wizard seemed to come to a conclusion as well and stood to usher Snape out of the room. It was then that Snape could see just how tired the other man was despite his cheery attitude and bright disposition.

"I am expecting a few visitors outside of the Main Gates shortly. Would you be so kind as to ask Mr. Filch to show them around the castle grounds?"

Snape raised an eyebrow.

"At this hour?"

Dumbledore chuckled.

"I hear that they haven't adjusted to the time change quite yet."

* * *

Shikamaru shuffled in after Sakura timidly passed through the doorway into a cozy, snug room. The revolving staircase slid back down and the door closed behind him all on its own accord. Taking in the new environment with one casual sweep around the room, his eyes didn't fail to notice the assortment of silver that was propped here and there. He heard a soft whistle of approval off to his right, signaling that at least one other person was impressed by the odd display of gadgets that whirled with a faint air of _magic_, as he later recalled, around them.

The owner of the strange devices was currently seated in a rather large, red comfy chair that resembled a makeshift throne which happened to look as if it were make of a very squishy material. Shikamaru had no doubt that it was very comfortable and wondered for a brief instant if the clouds overhead could be shaped into furniture to get the same results.

A soft trill of _something_ shook him out of his current train of thoughts as a fiery bird rose from its resting position from the old man's left. As if in response, the sun chose at that moment to rise from the east, making the warm glow of natural light filter in through the windows. The candles and lanterns which had been previously lit suddenly died down, allowing the shinobi to get accustomed to the new brightness in the early morning. Rays of light caught the bird so that its feathers shone with an ethereal hue of red on gilded wings. Shikamaru got the feeling that that was the bird's way of saying 'good morning'…

"Welcome, welcome!" the old man in the comfy chair greeted, gesturing for them to sit down on the other chairs that were provided for them. "I trust that your late night tour around Hogwarts with Mr. Filch had been enlightening, no?"

'Despite it taking a few hours long…' trailed at the back of his mind, but no one else chose to voice this thought.

Sakura made no movement to reply, and the others were feeling a bit uncomfortable as well. Naruto had started fidgeting in his seat, unused to the heavy but polite silence that rang in his ears. It wasn't a wonder either. The man with his long silver beard seemed so calm and collected that it just didn't seem _right_ to address him in his usual loud manner. He seemed to sense their hesitation and took their lack of verbal response as an unspoken signal to continue and immediately went into action.

"How silly of me! I'd forgotten to introduce myself! My name is Albus Dumbledore and I am the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Witchcraft and Wizardry."

The others visibly relaxed now and settled into what could be called their business persona. Naruto's antsy behavior ebbed away only to be replaced by a masked curiousness that was far from any earlier notions of mischief. Each in turn stated his or her name by automatically going around in alphabetical order (or right to left based on seating arrangement, if you prefer), but nothing more. (4)

"Uzumaki, Naruto."

"Uchiha, Sasuke."

"Nara, Shikamaru."

"Hatake, Kakashi."

"Haruno, Sakura."

If the Headmaster noticed the curt way their names were said, he didn't show any indication of it. Nodding to himself, he sat more upright in his chair and folded his hands atop his splendidly crafted table.

"Well then, now that our names are out of the way, I should think that we have a few orders of business to discuss. First off, how would you like to carry out your missions in Hogwarts?"

Shikamaru was thankful that Dumbledore, despite his very old appearance, was sharp enough to catch the general atmosphere of the group to know that pleasantries would otherwise be useless. For this question, Sasuke decided to take charge and responded with the vague particulars of their mission in mind.

"I think splitting up would be a good idea," he said softly to no one in particular. "There's four of us, if you don't include Kakashi-sensei, so we would be able to cover a quarter of the castle each."

The others found themselves nodding in agreement. Dumbledore seemed to ponder over this highly insightful suggestion briefly before coming to a conclusion with himself.

"I had been slightly worried," he said as he rose from his chair, "that neither of you would be willing to part with each other once term started."

"That won't be a problem," someone said. For a second, Shikamaru wondered who had responded before realizing that the words had invariably come out of his own mouth.

Making his way over to a nearby bookshelf, Dumbledore continued on, "In any case, I would like to sort you into Houses to facilitate this transaction." He reached up to grab a very tattered hat that had an ample amount of dust settling on its brim. He whispered something to either himself or the hat (none of the shinobi could hear what he said) before turning around with the item in his hands. Gently brushing off the dust, he answered three curious stares that were directed at the faded black article that looked relatively harmless and unimportant.

"This is Hogwart's Sorting Hat. If you would put it on, it will do the trick."

There was a silent exchange of, 'who would like to go first?' before the blond boy at the end of the row of chairs bravely put his hand up.

"Me. I'll go first."

"Very well then," Dumbledore kindly said before walking over to the young ninja.

'_Naruto Uzumaki, pleasure to meet you.'_

"Holy crap, this thing talks!"

That was, unbelievably, the genin's first outburst of the day.

'_Yes, and now to find a place to sort you… Maybe I should have a look at the rest of your teammates before coming to a decision, yes?'_

Naruto nodded, not entirely sure how to handle this situation.

And was it just him, or was there a vague impression of a smirk in the back of his mind…

Five minutes later, after everyone (save Kakashi) got to try the hat on at least once, Dumbledore reached out and put the Sorting Hat on himself. He seemed to be having an interesting conversation with the thing because he was chuckling every so often.

"Well now," the Headmaster said, placing the hat back on his shelf. "It seems that the Sorting Hat finds this all very amusing and left it up to me to decide where to place you all."

Slightly curious, the shinobi exchanged glances with each other before turning their attention back.

"How about if we draw lots?" Sasuke said, shrugging.

A chorus of voices answered his suggestion. "We do _what_?"

Sasuke could have sworn he saw Dumbledore's eyes _twinkle_. "Excellent idea!"

More than one person sighed before someone acquired a set of color-coded bits of paper…

* * *

Harry was woken up by something warm and fuzzy sitting on his face. At first, he thought that Crookshanks had managed to let himself in again, but that notion was quickly shoved aside when it began… fluttering?

"Gerroff, Pig!" a voice shouted nearby, making the small owl hoot in excitement before it began buzzing around on its tawny wings. Blinking, Harry squinted at the blurry figure that was desperately trying to catch the flying ball of feathers around his room before recognizing the bright red hair that was trademark of all the Weasleys.

"Sorry about that, mate," Ron yelled somewhat distractedly over his shoulder as he attempted to reach the flighty owl on top of the armoire that served Harry's temporary dresser. After almost knocking the piece of furniture off of its legs, the teenager managed to grab a hold of the still hooting Pigwideon by nabbing one of Harry's school robes ("Sorry, Harry! Can I borrow this for a sec?") and throwing it over the owl like a blanket. But that didn't stop the bird from trying to fly blindly even _while_ covered by a shroud of black.

"Blimey! You'd think that he'd have run out of energy by now after bothering the Order for days on end." Ron was still struggling to keep Pig under control despite having him bundled up in his arms. Trying to suppress a grin, Harry gave a yawn before shaking himself out of bed.

"Where's Hermione?" Harry asked as he reached for his glasses that were currently resting on the nightstand.

"She said she was going to – _oof!_ (that was when Pig's head collided into Ron's chin) – stay at the Leaky Cauldron. We were – _ow!_ (something nipped his fingers) – going to meet her there later on today or so…"

"Why is she at the Leaky Cauldron?" As soon as the words left his mouth, Harry saw that Pig was very close to slipping out of Ron's arms from underneath. As if on cue, the bird managed to untangle himself from Harry's robes and shot from the Weasley's arms into the air, hooting and flapping its wings in an energetic manner. It took only a few more minutes to shoo the owl out of the room, leaving the two teenagers in a relatively peaceful environment.

Still rubbing his pinched fingers and sporting a few more bruises than when he entered the room, Ron turned back to Harry with a, "What was that again?"

"Why did she le – _yawn_ – eave?"

Ron started looking a tad bit uncomfortable. Harry blinked a few sleepy tears out of his eyes before hastily adding, "If you don't want to talk about it, that's fi-"

"Said she couldn't handle the environment, or something like that."

"Oh, I see…"

Ron scoffed.

"Well, more like she bloody started pouncing on everything that moved. It was 'Ron this, Ron that' and 'honestly Ron! Can't you get off your lazy bum and start organizing your parchments according to weight and color?' After all of our adventures, you'd think that she'd get used to people popping up a little scratched up…"

Harry swallowed back a comment that had almost managed to slip past his tongue. Obviously the Order members were more than 'a little scratched up' to get Hermione to go crazy after a few weeks at Grimmauld Place.

According to Ginny, when Harry had first reached the Black Manor, there had been numerous Death Eater movements this past week. Mundungus had been carted of to St. Mungos just yesterday from an unexpected attack that involved the giants running loose somewhere – he had bravely ("Or stupidly," Ginny added) run off to defend the villagers from being smashed under the monstrous fists. Whether or not any of his stolen merchandise were in the surrounding shacks was still up in the air and being debated between the two younger Weasleys as the smuggler was not known for his acts of chivalry.

As far as Ginny knew, Tonks still hadn't contacted headquarters due to her tedious line of work even though it was well past her scheduled checkup. A dozen or so Aurors were given a small epiphany courtesy of Rita Skeeter on one of the many pages of the Daily Prophet. But at least, Harry mused, that Lupin seemed to be in better shape after having spent a few days recuperating from his last transformation.

"It's not like she owns this place anyway," Ron concluded, bringing the Boy Who Lived out of his train of thought.

"Yeah," he replied glumly. "But it's no fun when it reminds you of the person you miss the most."

Ron looked positively stricken.

On top of all of the chaotic turmoil and imminent problems that were plaguing the wizarding world, Harry was still not over the loss of his godfather. Ron, sensing that his best friend was broadening once again (a topic that all too often involved a certain Animagus) immediately tried to change the topic, shifting his voice until it sounded a little too forced.

"Sorry Harry – I didn't mean to bring it up or anything."

He waved a hand away.

"Yeah, I know."

With that, Harry Potter quickly stood to get dressed and having done so, made his way downstairs for a bit of breakfast before traveling to Diagon Alley via Floo Powder.

* * *

Bright green eyes fixed a scrutinizing gaze at the mahogany table that was now adorned with what appeared to be carved pieces of porcelain in the shape of facemasks.

"What are these for, Kakashi-sensei?"

("Anosa, anosa!" Naruto hollered at the rest of his team as he entered the designated meeting room a few minutes later than the other shinobi.)

"Don't ask me – your platoon leader is right there," Kakashi replied calmly. Shikamaru sighed and made his way over to the kunoichi.

"The Godaime saw fit to give you a little bit of protective gear on this particular mission."

"Why is that?"

("Oi! Kakashi-sensei!")

The chuunin mentally made a note to never volunteer himself to be squad leader for the rest of his life. Too many answers he didn't feel like giving.

"She didn't tell you the specifics because she didn't feel the need to."

Sasuke stepped closer to the table to get a better look at the artifacts himself.

"What specifics are you talking about?" he asked, already getting a vague idea in his head. Sensing his impatience, Shikamaru sighed again.

"I was informed of special orders by the Fifth that this is no ordinary C-ranked mission."

Naruto was starting to get frustrated. Despite his loud entrance and hollering, no amount of yelling or waving his arms seemed to get their attention. And he had, in his opinion, something very important to say.

"What do you mean?" The Uchiha turned to face his superior with a hard look. Shikamaru returned the almost-glare glance with a nonchalant one.

"We are entering into a warring state between two parties who are fighting over dominance in the wizarding world."

"And that means…what exactly?"

'_Great – this is exactly what I didn't want to say today.'_

"We're standing in what may turn out to be a battlefield."

There was a prevailing silence as the genin slowly let Nara's words sink in.

"So," Sakura timidly tried, "why did she pass this off to us?"

Frowning, Shikamaru folded his arms across his chest and leaned back against a wall.

"You were the only people she had in mind. All other teams were currently busy when the request came up. A higher rank would catch someone else's attention, and she wanted you to leave as quietly as possible. If this was passed off as an A-rank mission (as it very well is), then a spy residing in Konoha might find out and alert someone here. She couldn't afford to send off the few ANBU or jounin teams with the situation as it was."

Seeing, with the exception of Kakashi, the rest of Team Seven's confused looks, he elaborated with a, "Besides, she trusts your capabilities. I've read up on a few of your previous missions and it probably won't be any harder than your assignment with the Snow Country princess."

"Oh, I see. But that still doesn't explain the masks. They look like standard ANBU gear to me."

"That's because they are," Kakashi cut in, taking the spotlight off of Shikamaru's back. The chuunin muttered something under his breath which didn't sound too far off from "going back to sleep," before he retreated back to his little corner.

("Wha-?" Naruto's mouth stood agape. Did he hear what he thought the jounin just said?)

"Besides, these masks would help during the more dangerous parts of our mission. Should we be caught in battle, it would prevent the other side from knowing our identity while providing a bit of protection against an onslaught."

("Does that mea-")

"Mind you, you are not even chuunin yet. We're going to do a little information gathering soon. I think we should be well prepared. It would not do if one of Konoha's genin were injured because their superiors were too stingy to give them the proper equipment to protect themselves."

"Oh, right!"

"But first," the jounin said as he rose from his chair, "I think we need to work out our language barrier problem." Sakura's face brightened.

("How abou-")

"My roommate placed some sort of jutsu on me which allowed me to understand her for a brief period of time," she offered. Kakashi nodded for a moment.

"Sounds useful. But I was expecting this sort of problem, so I took the liberty of adding 'charms' to your masks already. The only downside would be that you have to actually wear them in order for them to work."

("I think tha-")

"Isn't there a more practical way, Kakashi-sensei? What about adding spells to our hitae-ate as well? ANBU masks are hardly inconspicuous in public."

"You have a good point there, Sakura. I'll see to it right now if you hand them over for a few minutes."

The pink-haired shinobi gave an embarrassed smile before setting off to collect the other three's forehead protectors.

("Hey! Can we g-")

"Why can't you just cast a jutsu over us like that bushy-haired girl did to Sakura?" Sasuke asked as he handed his hitae-ate over to his teammate.

"Casting a spell over a person is much harder than casting a spell on an inanimate object," Sakura replied as she started heading over to where the now sleeping form of Shikamaru lay. "That's why it only lasted for half an hour." Nabbing Naruto's forehead protector last, she took off her own and set them down in a heap in front of her sensei.

"That's true, Sakura," he said as he started a few hand seals, making the four objects glow with his chakra. "However, this jutsu is not limitless as well. It will wear out after a week, so be sure to ask either me, the Headmaster, or one of the Professors for help if the spell wears out."

Finally, after no one responded to some of his questions, Uzumaki Naruto burst, letting his enraged chakra flare out.

_("Let me finish my sentence, goddammit!")_

Everyone turned to stare at the formally ignored blond when they sensed a spike in the level of energy in the room.

("How are we supposed to ask them anything if we can't speak their language?")

Kakashi burrowed his eyebrows.

"Did someone cast a silencing jutsu on you Naruto?"

The genin immediately froze in mid-rant.

"Silencing jutsu?" he mouthed, wordlessly. "You mean the kind that makes its victim mute? What kind of a sick joke is this?"

There was a prevailing silence as Naruto settled down.

"I'm sure you'll manage somehow, Naruto," the jounin said while giving him a quick pat on the back. It didn't seem to help at all though as it became apparent that the blond started raving again and, judging by his appearance, was using very colorful words to show exactly what he was thinking. Words that fell on deaf ears – err, or something like that in this case…

* * *

"What's wrong Herm?" Ron asked while trying to rub all the soot out of his hair after having just stepped out of the fireplace.

"Nothing, Ron," she replied as she finished scratching off a few things on what apparently a list of things to do without raising her head even once. The fire burst to life, revealing another figure who had just stumbled out of the grate. "Hello, Harry."

"Hello."

The Weasley pouted as the witch rolled her piece of parchment and stored it in her bag.

"C'mon! I mean, obviously something's wrong if you keep on staring at that piece of paper instead of looking at us. Was it something I said at Gr- er, Harry's house?"

"No, Ronald Weasley. It was not."

Harry stiffened. Ron may not have noticed it, but Hermione was, at the moment, very tense and frustrated. If her using his full name wasn't a dead giveaway, then nothing else was. Harry made a few gestures and his friend backed off, not wanting to get caught in one of Hermione's rants.

"It's alright, Hermione," Harry reasoned, placing a soothing hand on her shoulder. "You can tell us what happened."

"I… You don't think the Ministry would reprimand me for using a spell the wrong way, do you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well," she began, "my roommate was sleeping and there was this noise outside that kept on waking me up… and I got really frustrated because it was really early in the morning and the sun was already up, so I…"

Hermione bowed her head as if she didn't want to say anymore than what she had revealed.

"Go on," Harry urged.

The witch took a deep breath.

"IshotasilencingcharmoutsidebutIthinkIendeduphittingapersoninstead. Idontthinkitswornoutyetbecausethismorningtherewasaguywhocamedownstairsandcouldntspeakawordbuthedidntrealizeit. UsuallymycharmswearoutafterawhilebutthistimeIwassomadIthinkitlastedlongerthanIwanteditto. AndItriedlookingfortheguybutIcouldntfindhimeventhoughIsearchedthroughthewholeinn."

Harry blinked. And Hermione was still looking down at her lap.

"What?"

Hermione sat up a little straighter and tried explaining once more.

"I- I cast a Silencing Charm on a guy on accident… And I don't think it's worn off yet because I was angry."

"And he doesn't know it?"

She shook her head.

Knowing his friend well, Harry understood that she wanted to find the unfortunate fellow and either correct the mistake or apologize for her actions.

"Well, what was he wearing?"

Here the witch made a face.

"Were his clothes weird?" Ron inquired. "Was he dressed as a wizard? Or was he wearing a ro-"

"Orange," she cut in.

"Huh?"

"He was wearing all orange."

Ron and Harry shared a pointed look and grimaced at the mental image.

* * *

"Hello, Hermione," Sakura cheerfully called as she made her way down the staircase from her room. The bushy-haired teenager turned quickly around and Sakura noticed that she was not alone.

"Hey, Sakura!" she waved, and pointed to her companions. "This is Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. They're a few of my friends from school."

They all gave her a friendly greeting as she neared the group, save for one wizard who looked at her as if she didn't belong there. The boy skinny boy on Hermione's right ('Harry,' Sakura reminded herself) whispered something at the witch that sounded like a one-worded question to which she quickly answered back.

("Muggle?" he asked quietly, suspicious of the girl's strange attire. Hermione shook her head. What kind of a Muggle would stay – and be allowed to stay – at the Leaky Cauldron?

"Transfer student to Hogwarts. Just came here the other day through an international Portkey.")

This seemed to put Harry at ease for he immediately straightened up and offered a handshake towards the kunoichi.

"Nice to meet you," he said politely.

"Where's Ginny?" Hermione asked as Harry turned away from the transfer student.

"She's cleaning out the attic with her mother after Kreacher's last attempt at setting the room on fire. The poor thing (cough) in all his maniacal glee forgot to get out of the way… We said we'd pick up her supplies for her, though."

As Hermione continued asking more questions, the other boy who was left out of their conversation decided to try talking to the 'new girl.'

"What's that?" Ron asked, pointing to Sakura's hitae-ate.

"This? Oh, it's nothing," she said in a dismissive manner, trying to brush off the question with a vague answer.

"It looks pretty cool," the redhead continued. "Like one of those bandanas Bill ends up wearing in Egypt or something."

Sakura started sweating a little due to the unwanted attention her attire was getting from the curious boy. Not that he was rude or anything, but he was getting interested in a topic she didn't want to talk about. Spotting an opportunity, the kunoichi quickly turned to Hermione in hopes of shaking Ron off.

"So what were you planning on doing today?" she asked while mustering up one of her most friendly smiles. Hermione seemed to sense her desperation.

"We were going to go to Diagon Alley to buy school supplies. And you?"

Sensing a blob of yellow-orange chakra nearby, it didn't take too long for Sakura to see her blond friend coming down the stairs from the corner of her eyes. She breathed a sigh in relief.

"I was waiting for my friends to come down so I could do the same." She turned around and faked a surprised greeting. "Naruto! Good of you to come down so soon!"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming…"

Seeing her companion, Ron immediately backed off from bombarding her with questions. She didn't miss the look of masked relief that flashed across the witch's face before everyone else was dragged out to the back alley.

("Guy in orange, right? Looks like you don't need to worry any more, Herm. Silencing Charm's worn off, if you ask me," Ron whispered behind Hermione's back.)

The kunoichi noticed that the witch subtly stepped on her friend's feet before exchanging a farewell with the pink-haired girl.

"Well, I'll see you around afterwards, right?"

"Sure thing!"

Kami-sama be damned the day she was genuinely thrilled to see that loud-mouthed ninja outside of their missions… Hearing an impatient foot tapping on the hard tile floor, she slowly turned to face her teammate.

Speaking of the devil…

"The old closet pervert said I was supposed to take you shopping today. Something about talking to Shikamaru for a while."

"What about Sasuke?"

"Hm? That bastard? He said he was going to check a few things out by himself. Typical selfish behavior."

Sakura nodded, not really listening to the blond genin rant in the background as she started for Diagon Alley.

* * *

"I'll be right with you dears," Madam Malkin said from the other side of the room when Sakura and Naruto entered the robe shop. The door closed with a soft jingle of bells and the two genin were left by themselves for the time being. After a couple of minutes, Naruto started wandering down further into the store while the pink-haired kunoichi chose to remain where she was standing.

Sakura started looking at the robes that were on display in the front windows. There were a few fancy ones that were obviously meant for formal occasions such as the frilly pink one closest to her. A particular group of manikins were decked in what she vaguely recognized as Hogwarts' robes from the pictures in the book Tom had lent her. And some of the others looked as if they would fit her one and only Sasuke very well…

"What do you think?" Naruto asked from a little ways back, bringing Sakura out of her short daydream.

Sakura turned around and took a neutral step backwards as if she were contemplating something in the back of her mind. Naruto was poised dramatically in front of a three-way mirror trying out a few robes that perked his interests.

"I don't think those are meant to be your color, Naruto," she finally said after taking a few moments of silence to look like she was really considering his choice of clothes. It wasn't that hard, really – just as long as she pretended she was showing interest and taking him seriously, the blond ninja wouldn't bother her more than necessary. _That_ was something she figured out while they were walking the endless corridors in the old castle in the middle of the night.

"What do you mean?" Naruto sputtered as he drew himself as tall as he could muster with the heavy bolts of cloth draped over his shoulders. "Orange has _always_ been my color!"

"Yes," she replied patiently, "but now we have to dress according to where we were Sorted."

Naruto frowned, unwilling to imagine himself in anything other than his usual attire.

"But those are such awful colors! Honestly! It makes me feel icky when I look at them."

Sakura gave an exasperated sigh as her teammate started rolling the fabric back into place.

"If you don't like it, you can complain to Kakashi-sensei about them. It's bad enough that we are all in different Houses, no matter how well it corresponds to our mission…"

"Hmpf!"

Sakura mentally threw her hands up to the air, signaling defeat. Just _how_ was she going to survive the rest of the mission with this obnoxious _brat_? Taking a few breaths to calm herself down, she turned her attention back towards looking for a hat. Spying one on a shelf that was just out of her reach, she saw that Naruto had apparently put away his heart's desire.

"Naruto, would you-" she began. But Naruto was already storming his way across the room, muttering none-too-gently about nothing in particular.

"Sasuke'd _love this_ school. He'd have a field day! The dress code is black, black, and _more_ black!"

Here, he paused and composed himself into a salesman-like persona before starting to talk to an imaginary costumer.

"Hello, Miss. Would you like a nice pair of white socks? They come in the lovely shades of black, jet, ebony, onyx and charcoal. _Honestly_, you'd think that these wizards would die from heat stroke or something…" and so his ramblings continued on. They only stopped after Madam Malkin reappeared, escorting someone who looked small and young enough to be an academy student.

"Do take care of them, Mr. Creevely. I would hate for your mother to have to come around during Christmas break to buy you another set of robes." The young boy nodded hurriedly before exiting out of the store, leaving Sakura and Naruto with squat but smiling witch.

"Now then," she said, addressing the shinobi. "Hogwarts?"

* * *

"You wanted to see me, Headmaster?" Kakashi asked as he entered a different room of the Leaky Cauldron with his second in command following silently behind.

"Ah, Kakashi. Yes, yes. Mr. Nara, if you would care to join us?"

The chuunin made no reply, but stepped a little closer to where the two men were holding their conversation.

"I was just wondering which year you wanted your team to be placed in," Dumbledore said. "You _could_ just decide to remain with students your age, but that would seriously hamper your amount of freedom. As it is, only third years and up are allowed to go visit Hogsmead." (5)

"I was hoping that we could stay with the older students, if possible," Shikamaru answered when he felt the question was directed more towards himself than the jounin.

"That sounds reasonable," the Headmaster said, contemplating. "However, seventh year students are burdened with their N.E.W.T.s as are fifth year students with their O.W.L.s."

"And the sixth years?" Kakashi asked.

"Training for their respective career fields," the wizard replied. After a moment's hesitation, Shikamaru spoke up.

"Would it be possible to grant us a special status?"

"To not bind you to any specific year?" the silver-bearded man voiced out loud. "That would certainly be possible. But it has never been done before." _Doesn't mean it couldn't be done_, his eyes read as they twinkled.

"You could just say that we're guests of yours – transfer students – whatever you prefer," Shikamaru offered offhandedly with a slight gesture of his shoulders.

"True," Dumbledore nodded. "I suppose that would hinder you less in your duties… But you would still have to decide on a specific year to study in for cover-up purposes."

"It wouldn't matter too much. Acting older than the other students our age wouldn't be too hard for a shinobi."

Albus Dumbledore then turned his attention to the jounin who had chosen to remain silent when Shikamaru decided to take over.

"Out of curiosity, what is the legal age over in Konoha?"

"When ever one reaches the level of genin. Graduating the academy makes them adults, but only after becoming assigned into a team grants shinobi the right to kill when necessary," Kakashi answered.

"I see."

"Of course," he added, "sixteen is the age when most restrictions are waived, regardless of status. But even if one becomes jounin, he or she cannot drink and such until reaching such age. Age of consent, on the other hand, is an entirely different matter…" he trailed off.

"In that case," Dumbledore turned back towards Shikamaru, "you wouldn't mind too much if I placed you in the same year as Mr. Potter?"

"Of course not," he replied. "Is it not our duty to oversee him?" The Headmaster of Hogwarts cheerfully smiled at his response.

"Good! It is settled then! I shall be informing your Head of Houses immediately."

They all bowed politely to one another.

"Do thank Tom for letting us use one of his rooms, and I shall see you in a few days then! Ta ta!"

And with a small pop, the old man was gone.

* * *

Shikamaru sighed once again as he trudged down the corridors. Really, this day had been awfully hectic and it wasn't even time for lunch yet. First, they had gotten lost and Kakashi-sensei hadn't helped in the slightest. People had been looking at them funny in the train station when Naruto had misplaced his hitae-ate and started ranting in Japanese only to find that it was located in one of his luggage bags. _And_ to make things worse, all of the compartments were crowded with loud students who weren't making their trip to Hogwarts any easier.

To escape from the hoards of people, he had come up with the _brilliant_ idea of staying away from the compartments for a while. Except that there wasn't any more room, so he had opted for going elsewhere. But the weather wasn't as good as he had hoped with more than just a few clouds dotting the sky. In fact, it was overcast with a light drizzle falling down from the heavy gray above. If that wasn't bad enough, the train was going super fast, making the Nara wish he had brought more than just his flax jacket for protection against the wind.

Shikamaru dusted his clothes off, trying to shake out a few water droplets from his damp vest. Nearby, Uchiha Sasuke was shuffling his feet with his hands jammed in his pockets, still shaking slightly from having come out of the cold.

"Maybe we should have come back sooner," he said.

"Don't worry about it. It's not like we went out and caused trouble or anything…"

Shrugging, Sasuke walked towards their designated compartment. Shikamaru braced for the worst as the other shinobi opened the door before putting on his usual bored look. The first thing they saw was a face scary enough to give their mothers (an all nagging women) a run for their money.

"Where. _Were_. You. Two."

Sakura had stopped talking to her newfound friends and had turned to face her fellow teammates. Shikamaru held up his hands in his defense.

"I was enjoying the country breeze. Sasuke just followed me away from the herd of people because it was too noisy in the hallway."

"I wasn't aware that you could open the windows on this train," Hermione said disbelievingly.

"Who said we were in the train?" Sasuke said in a deadpanned manner. Hermione's eyes shot wide open.

"You mean-!"

"I was just joking," the Uchiha replied in the same tone of voice. Frowning, the bushy-haired girl huffed, indignant that she supposedly fell for such a far-fetched fib.

'_No you weren't…'_ Sakura thought accusingly, shaking her head while eyeing the way the two shinobi's clothes and hair were rumpled and hastily arranged.

The other occupants of the compartment fidgeted slightly, wary of the exchanged conversation and the unusual behavior of the two shinobi.

"Oh, I'm afraid we haven't introduced each other… Hermione, these two are Shikamaru Nara and Sasuke Uchiha. As you already know, I am Sakura Haruno and the blond boy sleeping over there is Naruto Uzumaki."

"Hermione Granger," the witch said for the benefit of Shikamaru and Sasuke. "And these two are Ronald Weasley and Harry Potter."

"Nice to meet you," came the gruff greeting from the boy with the fan symbol on his back before he sat down next to the window and tuned everyone else out.

* * *

"We're nearing Hogwarts. Best start getting dressed in our uniforms."

With this, Hermione sent the boys (including one sleeping Naruto) to another compartment and opened her trunk. Taking her own uniform out, Sakura was about to ask the witch for help when she was suddenly interrupted.

"I didn't know you got sorted to Gryffindor!" (6)

Sakura smiled sheepishly.

"Guess I forgot to tell you..."

There was a knock and the door slid open, revealing a girl with vivid red hair.

"Hey Hermione, I was wondering if I could change in here."

"No problem, Ginny," she said and ushered the younger girl in.

They exchanged greetings and each went about getting dressed. Sakura followed Hermione's example and quickly started changing, putting on her attire after carefully observing the manner in which the witch seemed to don all of the seemingly random articles of clothing.

"Granger-san," the kunoichi asked after much internal debate. "Which way does this go?"

Taking a look at the current state of mess the pink-haired girl was in, Hermione let out a suppressed giggle before straightening out the red and gold tie.

"Here's your cloak," she said as she handed the new student a black robe. "You'll find that a few of the other students still don't know how to dress properly within the next few days. Don't worry, it just takes a little getting used to."

Sakura merely smiled.

"Thanks," she replied while slipping one arm in a sleeve.

"Don't forget your stockings before we leave!"

After a few more minutes of bustling about, the three left their compartment and joined the rest of the students that were gathered on the platform. Sakura soon spotted the rest of her group and called to Hermione.

"I'm going in this direction," she said while pointing to Naruto and the others. "Hope we can still see each other during our free time or something!"

"Sure thing!"

**_To Be Continued…_**

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

1. Translation Spell: Tsunade wrote the letter in Japanese. The 'Chinese characters' are kanji. The funny thing is that I had this sudden urge to write the letter in _Engrish_. XD

2. DADA Professor: I had realized that getting Tsunade to teach at Hogwarts would have been an illogical choice. It wouldn't have made sense with the fact that she has waaaaay too many responsibilities back at Konoha. So this is how I fixed my previous error – sorry for the disappointment, guys! I'll probably end up trying to correct all my mistakes in a similar matter… Any guesses as to who the new Professor is? XD

3. Grimmauld Place: I know, I know – it's different from Half-Blood Prince. Bear with me as I attempt to fill in some of the inconsistencies and such. Plus, I'd just happened to stumble across that interesting tidbit when I realized the Rowling talks about birthday presents in almost every book. (shrugs) I don't know about most of Harry's earlier birthdays, but I'm assuming he had to spend it with his relatives, much to their displeasure, I'm sure – notice I said _with_ his relatives and not in their house. As you can probably recall, Harry spent his eleventh birthday in a miserable shack in the middle of Nowhere.

4. Alphabetical Order: Japanese alphabetical order is _very_ different than English alphabetical order. Just trust me on this one.

5. Ages: I'm assuming here that they're still twelve. Of course, Sasuke and the others might be a year older in the manga depending on their birthdates, but I wasn't aware of the specific time anything took place… And yeah, they're supposed to pretend that they're fifteen instead.

6. Sakura's House: For selfish reasons, I've decided to change what I had put up in my little spoiler… What I would give to see all of your reactions when I make them go to their dorms.

Just for your information: If you haven't noticed before, I don't add the 's' after Japanese words for a reason. Most Asian languages don't have a way of expressing plurality and refer to any number of objects in the same manner. Here we say, 'one dog, two dogs.' But Japanese is more like 'one dog, two dog.' Kinda like the word 'fish.' So Team Seven is consisted of one jounin instructor, one chuunin addition and three genin. Notice, no 's' after 'genin.'

Wands: Don't worry, I didn't forget about those. Explanations in the next chapter.

Houses: Same as wands.

Pairings: None for the time being. Romance isn't my forte.

Beta Reader: No, I'm not using a beta reader. If I did, my earlier chapters wouldn't have sucked so much.

_Yatsuka Hikagi _

_August, 16, 2005_


	8. New News

A voice in the back of his mind, grumbling, complaining… Unsatisfied with the turn of events…

**'Filthy humans, crowding around and big clumps, disregarding everything else that's going on around them…' **

_'Get used to it. We're going to be here for a while.' _

And he in turn, also grumbling, complaining, though more about having to deal with the voice rather than the people around him.

**_'Pathetic creatures, the lot of them… They're weak. They deserve to be killed.' _**

_'That's what you say about everyone.' _

Trying to placate the other with words and faint acknowledgement.

**_'Dirty, vile beings. Disgusting insects, annoying mammals…'_**

_'I know, I know…'_

Off-handed response, partial agreement more to calm the other's temper than anything else. Half-hearted mutterings with little to no truth behind them. Voice seems to understand this too. Speaks out like a sulking child not getting what is wanted…

**_'I despise them.' _**

Trashing tails in a mock tantrum, demanding, bossing, pouting, immature, impatient, whining. Still not getting what is desired. His reprimanding tone of voice to put the other to order.

_'Shush. You're being too noisy. I can't hear what's going on.' _

Attention focusing back to reality, leaving the realm of his mind and imagination behind. Voice fades, tuning out as other sounds pick up and slowly re-introduce him to the world of the living.

* * *

**In Way of Trouble**

Chapter 08: "New News"

By Hikagi

* * *

Murmurs filled the grand hall like a cacophony of instruments as they tuned before a performance, sending a range of different timbres into the atmosphere. The stage was set and the audience was slowly starting to fill their seats, following one another in a mass like long file of churchgoers in the background. The stagehands and performers nervously gathered around their entrances, anticipation hanging heavily in their minds as they felt, rather than heard or saw, the multitude of crowds awaiting them on the other side of the doors.

Waiting excitedly, the returning audience members gossiped about the changes in the hall and the much looked forward to performance. Except, the main attraction wasn't even on stage and was trying not to be the center of attention in this case. Instead, the nameless, faceless people turned their focus towards the newly joined members of the observing group. Their voices carried and echoed until it was more of a jumbled mess, indistinguishable from the other sounds in the tall building that was built for its acoustics and grand design.

_"-eard that there's gonna be a ne-" _

_"-mbledore's going crazy, if you ask m-" _

_"-ilch is in a bad mood today so watch out for Mrs. N-" _

_"-ey, who're the new kids-" _

_"-whoa, check out her hair!" _

_"-that black-haired one looks hot. D'ya think he'll let me ask him ou-" _

_"-e doesn't look like a first year. Maybe he's older than us?" _

_"-I've never seen them before. Why do you recko-" _

_"-hat if it's going to be like two years ago – you know, like the Tri-Wizarding Tour-" _

Then quite suddenly as if on cue, the constant buzzing of voices stilled, the figurative instruments stopped tuning, the audience (also known as the returning Hogwarts students) settled down and the stage doors opened. The First Years trudged wearily in, frantic glances cast every which way before settling on the director seated in the center of the orchestral pit – the Staff Table.

The conductor stood to address the audience and said a few words of welcome, thanking the returning students for coming once more. After a short speech of what was to be expected, he raised his baton to the heavens and sent off a thrilling display of fiery works to announce the start of the ceremony.

"Now let the Sorting Begin!"

* * *

The last boy sorted hurriedly skipped off the stool and settled to join the Ravenclaws before McGonogall transfigured the seat into a cushion and whisked the Sorting Hat away. Nodding to the Headmaster, she briskly made her way to her own chair before sitting down, handing the spotlight over. Dumbledore stood, raised his hands and made a motion for the crowd to settle their excited whispers.

"Congratulations to all the First Years and their Houses for the Sorting arrangements! I hope you get to know and appreciate your fellow Housemates in the following years at Hogwarts." A few of the older students cheered in support, earning a smile from their Headmaster.

"I see that a few of you have noticed some new faces," he said, nodding. "There will be four international students joining us this school year all the way from Japan!" There was a polite applause from the rest of the students and staff members.

"Also, I am pleased to introduce you to Mr. Hatake," Dumbledore announced, extending an arm in the gray-haired man's direction. Kakashi stood from his place at the table and acknowledged the students. "He will be interning here at Hogwarts this year in order to gain experience in maintaining and managing a big facility such as this castle. I trust that you will show him respect as you do to the rest of your professors.

"With that, enjoy the Feast!"

* * *

Sakura stared in awe as objects just appeared from nowhere, filling the multitude of empty plates and dishes with a variety of food she had never seen before.

"Wow! This is the best!" she said, helping herself to a nearby platter. "I haven't had lamb for the longest time!"

"Glad to see that you're enjoying it," Hermione replied kindly, smiling at the kunoichi's excited behavior.

"Back at home," Sakura stated in between mouthfuls of roasted meat, "we never had big feasts like this." After swallowing, she quickly downed the contents of her goblet before reaching over to snag a few clusters of grapes from the centerpiece.

"Hey," Ron whispered, nudging his best friend with an elbow. "Is she really human? It's abnormal to eat like that."

Hermione sent him a scathing glare before ignoring his comment and focusing her attention back to the newly acquired Gryffindor. "That's too bad, really. I come from a Muggle background, and we didn't do this sort of thing either. I'm very glad that Hogwarts has occasional feasts for calendar events."

"Yeah, no kidding," the pink-haired girl nodded in agreement, filling her plate with some of the items that were unfamiliar to her. "Hogwarts is very different than the school I've been attending."

"I suppose that experiencing another school _would_ be an interesting ordeal…" Hermione trailed off, raising her hand to her chin as if that idea sounded especially enticing for the moment.

"Interesting…" Sakura repeated, mulling over the word as if it were a unique flavor of wine on her tongue. "You _could_ look at it that way. But this place has so many quirks! I mean, what's up with the Sorting Hat? I had no idea that it could speak out loud."

"Really?" Hermione's eyebrows raised with suspicion. "It was different than how the First Years got Sorted?"

"Well, I thought that was because we were older, or there were only four of us, or _something_…" Sakura replied offhandedly, trying to dismiss the matter altogether. Oh, the irony in that last sentence…

"Not really," the witch said. "The Sorting Hat is capable of looking into anyone's mind if it so wished. There shouldn't have been a reason for the procedures to be any different. Unless…"

But Hermione didn't say anymore, and left Sakura to wonder if maybe staying around an extremely brilliant witch was initially more detrimental to their cover-up story than she had first expected.

* * *

"Oof!" Ron said, patting his stomach affectionately as Dumbledore dismissed the students to their dorms. The leftover food on the table started to vanish from the plates, as did the pumpkin juice from the cups. "I always forget how excellent the Feasts are."

Harry laughed as he stood to leave for the restroom. "Maybe you ate just a little too much this time around."

"Maybe," the redhead muttered as he slowly excused himself from the table. All the other students had started filing out of the Grand Hall by this point, making the charmed room feel emptier as the candles continued to float in the air. Hermione offered to walk Sakura to the dormitories before they were approached by their Head of House.

Harry helped the Weasley out of his seat and turned to leave before he was stopped by his best friend's hand on his shoulder.

"What's wrong?" he asked. Ron had a look of confusion written across his face.

"Why isn't Hermione coming with us? Aren't the prefects supposed to lead the midgets?"

The witch in question started walking in the direction of the Staff Table, calling out, "Professor McGonagall requested that I stay behind. Ron, Harry, would you do me a favor and take the First Years up to their rooms?"

"Leave it to us," Harry replied, steering the protesting redhead away from the third member of their trio. "First Years, First Years, follow us!"

* * *

"I see that you've kept your cover very well," Dumbledore said as the door to his office closed. (1)

"Thank you, Headmaster," Shikamaru replied as the four of them bowed.

"Sadly, Mr. Olivanders did not have any spare wands for you to use," he said apologetically. "But, no matter. You are all capable of performing without wands."

"_Ano sa, ano sa!_" Naruto butted in. "How will we get through our classes that require spell-work without wands to perform them with?" Dumbledore didn't seem to take the genin's outburst personally, but instead chuckled with a knowing expression.

"You can use these." He made a gesture towards his table.

"But these are just regular sticks, sir," Sakura said, picking up one of the wands and examining it with scrutiny.

"Not quite, Sakura. As you can probably see, they are the exact imitation of the standard wand. And they have been charged with a little bit of magic so that they act like them too. You just need to supply these look-alikes with your chakra, and you should be able to mimic almost any simple spell you will encounter during the school year. These wand-imitations were tampered to manipulate your energy, so they are a little more than 'just regular sticks'."

"Oh, I see…" she said as she waved it experimentally around. It didn't flash bolts of lightening or make fireworks go off as Dumbledore's did during the feast. In fact, it didn't do anything. She tried again, this time gently releasing a bit of chakra through her hands, and the wand flared at the tip, casting a warm light into the room.

"Ah. Kakashi said that you had a knack for executing jutsu with perfect control. That looked just like a _lumos_ incantation," Dumbledore nodded, clearly pleased with the perspicacious kunoichi's talent at quickly picking up the new skill.

"Where did you get them?" Sasuke inquired as he picked up another one of the 'wands'. He tried to channel some of his chakra like Sakura did, and was rewarded with a loud bang when it exploded. He reemerged with a blackened face and a wand smoking at its end.

"A few alumni of Hogwarts came up with the ingenious idea of creating look-alikes for the sole purpose of fooling their adversaries." (2)

Naruto's ears perked up when saw what kind of damage it did to his rival, and he immediately ran over to claim his own wand. He twirled it around like a shuriken, and marveled with delight when he found that the wood was very firm and surprisingly heavy. Shikamaru shrugged when he saw that the others had already made their choices and picked up the remaining stick.

Copying his other two teammates, Naruto pumped a little bit of chakra into his wand and was thrilled when it emitted a force similar to Sasuke's unfortunate backfired spell. Grinning like an idiot, he then pointed his wand at Sasuke and charged it with chakra, hoping for the similar effect with a much greater intensity.

"Eat this, teme!"

Naruto's wand shook violently with the forced amount of energy input and spluttered before going dead in his hand.

"Wha?"

"Interesting," Shikamaru muttered to himself as he checked his own wand over. "It's not limited to only casting spells in Latin."

Naruto held the wand up to his own face, wondering if he had accidentally killed it when he had released too much chakra into the stick of polished wood. He ran his eyes over it, looking for any hint of a crack, and after finding none, traced his fingers around it just to make sure.

Shikamaru nodded in satisfaction when he was done examining his newest weapon, pleased with its capabilities. Resisting the urge to smirk, he then said a few words in Japanese to test out the rest of his theory he had built up while watching the others fiddle with their wands.

_"Release his wand from your hold,"_ he said, while pointing at Naruto. The blond gave a wild yelp when the stick in his hand started vibrating again, this time giving no signs of going out of commission. It resulted with a terrific explosion, sending the genin soaring (and crashing) into a nearby wall.

_"What the hell is wrong with my wand?"_

Shikamaru bent down to pick up Naruto's fallen hitai-ate and wand before walking up to the slightly battered boy.

"Nothing," the chuunin replied as he handed the items back to their owner. "I just wanted to see if I could control your wand with a spell that mimicked my Shadow Bind without using shadows."

"If I may ask," Sakura said in a polite tone, ignoring what was going on behind her, "what exactly did you tell the Sorting Hat before we tried it on? Granger-san told me that it wasn't necessary to have waited for our results."

Dumbledore smiled, already taken with the young girl's quick mind and observational skills. "I told it to place you in the House that would produce the best results for your mission. The Hat does, after all, spend an awful lot of time around my office and has picked up a few things over the past couple of years."

"But its lack of conclusion?"

"Ah, that was because the Hat was merely amused at what I asked of it. Since you are not here for the education, the Sorting Hat reasoned that it had no real need to actually sort the four of you. All in all, are you displeased with the results?"

"Not yet. But I would like to know the specifics of the areas each of us are required to cover."

"Very well, then."

Dumbledore spent a few more minutes answering Sakura's questions, explaining more about the rivalries between the Houses and the traits that were characteristic of them. He then turned to the others after her curiosity was satisfied a bit, expressing his gratitude for coming to his office and bid them farewell, indicating it was time for them to part.

"Now, I have taken the liberty of assigning you each a prefect who will help you get adjusted to life at Hogwarts," Dumbledore said as he ushered the shinobi out of his office. "They will be waiting for you in the Great Hall with your Heads of Houses, so show them all respect and get a good night's rest."

"Yes, Headmaster."

* * *

An owl fluttered down and landed in front of Naruto while he was eating his cereal, delivering a letter before taking off to the skies. He took a quick glance at the address written on the top-left corner and then put the envelope in one of his pockets, resuming his breakfast as if nothing had happened. After a few more minutes the blond gave a stretch and made a few discreet hand signals. The other genin didn't fail to notice this, and after catching each other's eyes, slipped out of the Great Hall while giving excuses to their housemates. They left one at a time in separate directions so as to not appear that they were traveling in a group.

"What is it, Naruto?" Sakura asked as they gathered around the courtyard fountain.

"It's from the old hag," he replied, making a grimace.

"What did she say?"

Naruto opened the letter and began reading. "Blah. I dunno. Too much kanji…"

Shikamaru made a tapping motion on his ear, and the others nodded with understanding. They all reached under their robes and took off their hitai-ate from their right arms.

"Naruto no baka! _Anything_ written in kanji is 'too much kanji' for you!"

"Oh yeah? What about that _one_ time-" and anything else that was said was lost in an exchange of verbal insults. The letter fluttered to the ground, forgotten for the moment as the two started their daily routine of arguing. Again. Sasuke started tuning them out while keeping a fixated stare at one of the trees in the distance.

"Ha. I bet Sasuke-kun cares more about this mission than _you_ ever will!"

What the… Since when did _he_ get dragged into this?

"As if! That bastard probably forgot why we're here in the first place! And what about _you?_"

Shikamaru saw that this situation was getting nowhere when Naruto started taunting the kunoichi and attempted to separate the two. "Hey, would you two just cut it o-"

Sakura started glowering with one hand in a fist, grinding into the other. "Don't you _dare_ talk about my Sasuke-kun like that!" Naruto merely took this as bait and started running around, shouting at the top of his lungs. Sakura followed in hot pursuit.

"Sasuke-teme! Sasuke-teme!"

"Baka! Get back here so I can pummel you properly!"

Sasuke sighed and bent down to retrieve the paper and started muttering its contents out loud.

--

_So… _

_How's it like to be in school again? And, from what I've heard from Headmaster Dumbledore, to be posing as sixteen year-olds? _

_I'd like to inform you of some of the more recent events so as to keep you all up to date with the happenings here in Konoha. _

_First off, it seems that some of the other teams you've met a few weeks ago are planning on attending the next Chuunin Exam. This time it's going to be held in the Hidden Sand Village. You all remember Gaara-kun, I presume? Well, if Naruto is asking, it seems that his condition is more stable than the last time they met. He will know what I'm talking about. _

_Oh, and Ino is asking about your health, Shikamaru. She had me surprised there. I thought that she'd be on my case about someone else in your group… Chouji said that she's been acting moodier than usual when all the genin teams were reassigned due to the depletion in our numbers from our last fiasco. _

_… _

_Do take care, ne? Come back to us safely. Oh, which reminds me… _

--

And the letter continued on in this fashion. It wasn't until about halfway through that Sasuke noticed that his other teammates had stopped fighting and were, instead, peering over his shoulders, trying to read the rest of the letter with him.

"Stupid hag," Naruto muttered. "She knows what it's like. She hides her true appearance everyday."

Sakura gave him one of her best I-Am-Mad-At-You-Because-You-Are-So-Stupid-So-Why-Don't-You-Just-Shut-Up-And-Leave-Us-Alone glares. "Tsunade-sama isn't an old hag! She just happens to like pretending she's a different age!"

Shikamaru scoffed. "Yeah, which is kinda like what we're doing here."

"Oh…! Boys!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands up into the air.

"Well," Sasuke carefully said as he deposited the letter and envelope into one of his pockets, "the rest of the letter isn't anything important. She says that she's heard from Kakashi-sensei that Kabuto was spotted just the other day."

"Where?"

"Didn't specify."

"Oh…" Naruto shrugged, rummaging through his pockets for anything that could be used as a distraction. He managed to find something located in the inside of his robes. "Man, I'm bored right now!"

"Don't worry too much about it," Shikamaru stated, finding a nice spot on the grass to lie down and watch the clouds. "Our patrol will keep you busy enough. Anyway, I think it'll be slightly more interesting once classes start."

"When's that?" Naruto asked, fiddling with his wand in the air like an extra-long senbon needle.

"Monday, dobe."

* * *

"What do you think?" Harry whispered behind his two best friends while keeping his Seeker-trained eyes on the group of four.

"I don't know," Ron admitted as he chanced another look around the stone pillar they were hiding behind. "I mean, isn't it strange that Dumbledore allowed them to transfer over? With the Dark Lord and all that…"

"I think that's _especially_ why he accepted international students," Hermione reasoned. "Perhaps it was a political statement from the other school that they trust us and support us even in times of trouble."

"But – I mean, I've never heard of a wizarding school in Japan! Hell, I don't even know the name of their school!"

"Honestly, Ron. I'm sure they've never heard of Hogwarts either until they were sent here."

"B-but, it's _Hogwarts_ we're talking about! How can you _not_ know of this place?"

"Hush. I want to hear what they're saying," Harry stated with his back turned towards his arguing friends. But the next few words were in a language that none of them understood. Hermione frowned, her eyebrows gathering.

"I guess their translation spells failed just now. Which is funny because I was so _sure_ that I tuned Sakura's to last for another day or so."

"I don't think their charms failed, 'Mione," Ron said in a hushed voice. "I think they didn't want anyone listening in."

* * *

"Are they gone yet?" Naruto asked half an hour later with his hands behind his head in a semi-relaxed manner. He tilted his head back slightly, casting a quick glance out of the corners of his eyes towards where the Grand Hall was located.

"Not yet," Sasuke replied, eyes closed with his hands folded in front of his mouth. "Wait… Yeah – they've left."

Naruto shot up from his position on the ground and exhaled loudly. "Phew! Man, I'm tired!"

Sakura scowled, at the wind messing up her carefully placed hair she had spent fixing all morning and at her teammate's unexplainably high level of energy at the moment.

"You have no right to complain. Maintaining a genjutsu isn't as hard for you as it is for others on this team," she said as she attempted to calm the hairs that were being blown around.

"Yeah, but you guys have better control than I do!" She shot Naruto a glare at his outburst, frowning.

"We don't have an endless supply of stamina like you do, you freak," she said evenly.

Naruto chose to ignore her and instead turned to face the Uchiha. "So then, now that Potter-tachi are gone, can we take the illusion off?" Sasuke shook his head.

"Not until the coast is clear. There still might be a few students milling about." Frowning just a little bit and squinting his eyes until he looked like he was blind, Naruto stared at the genin, trying to get him to take back his word. Seeing that the black-haired shinobi remained ever so unresponsive, he chose to find someone else to bother instead.

"Hey Shikamaru," Naruto turned to where he last saw the chuunin, only to find him sleeping. "_Oi!_ Shikamaru! Wake up!" Shikamaru stirred out of his slumber, twitching in annoyance.

"_Baka_. We don't have anything to do as of yet," he muttered with his eyes still shut. Undeterred, Naruto inched forward, smiling his best foxy grin as he attempted to sweet-talk his commander. Not that Shikamaru could see him, though.

"Ne, ne. When can we take the illusion off? I'm getting tired."

"_Che_. It'll get easier with practice."

"Then what do I do if somebody makes me lose my concentration and I change back to the real me?"

"Convince them that it was some sort of trick of the light after henge-ing again," he replied calmly, not paying too much attention to the blond anymore. Naruto pouted.

"_Mou_, Shikamaru – you're no fun."

"Of course not," the chuunin said, smirking. "Why do you think I'm your platoon leader?" Naruto made a face at the lazy genius, but Shikamaru had already turned to face a different direction. "How's your House, Sasuke-kun?"

The Uchiha prodigy shrugged. "It's okay."

"What about you, Sakura?"

She gave a small smile before answering. "I really like my Housemates. They're nice people to be around with. What about _your_ House, Shikamaru?"

"I think I like my House better than any of yours. It's more lax in its environment."

Sasuke seemed to find something funny about the way things had turned out. After all, some of their Sortings had been just too perfect to be true.

"At least my House colors don't resemble that of a bumble bee," he said under his breath, loud enough for the others to hear. Naruto gave a fake cough as he tried to mask his laughter, but Shikamaru rolled his eyes and continued to proceed with his questionings.

"Naruto?"

It took some time for him to calm down his laughter (which by now he had stopped trying to hide), but Konoha's Loudest Ninja didn't fail to meet everyone's expectations. He gave a big goofy grin and proceeded to launch into detail about his stay at Hogwarts so far.

"I met some interesting people already. There's this one guy, and he seems pretty okay – except that he reminds me of Sasuke-teme sometimes. And did you know? The stairs _move!_ All by themselves! And the talking portraits are so cool too! Did you know tha-"

Sakura sweatdropped as Naruto started talking to no one in particular. "Maybe we should leave him alone…"

A few minutes later, Shikamaru decided to call their impromptu meeting to a close. "Kakashi-sensei wanted to meet us near Hagrid-san's hut for a debriefing soon. On a different note, do you all have time for a patrol round later on tonight?"

"Sure. If you guys are up for it, so am I," Sakura confirmed.

"Good. Then let's go see him right now and hear what he wants to tell us before we head back."

They put their forehead protectors back on, tying it securely before making sure that their robes concealed any glint of metal from the extra kunai and shuriken they had taken to carrying around.

"And make sure you're dressed _properly,_" Sakura admonished, looking with disdain at the way Naruto and Shikamaru's uniforms were haphazardly thrown on.

"_Yes_, Mother," Naruto drawled out, earning him a slap to the back of his head.

_"Urusai!"_ Sakura growled out, her Inner self surfacing and taking momentary control.

_"Itai!"_

* * *

The night sky was clear of any clouds as the stars' soft light twinkled merrily in the atmosphere onto the sleeping earth below. The occasional chirping of the crickets was rarely interrupted save by a slight breeze rustling over the plains of grass. An owl flew down and perched on a tree branch, its large unwavering eyes blinking slowly in the dark environment as little moved about the school grounds. Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris, patrolled the corridors near the entrance to Hogwarts, swaying back and forth in her unspoken duty to watch and guard the doors with her life.

The formidable castle stood securely on top of the hill, arms open wide with a sense of ancient, dark mystery almost as if inviting unsuspecting travelers into its midst, never again to roam under the sun for all of eternity. The trees swayed eerily, dancing to an imaginary song performed by the elusive moorfolk around an invisible fire as they celebrated a forgotten holiday.

Time stood still as four figures stole quietly from the forest, past the main gate and into the hallways faster than one can draw breath. The crickets sang on undisturbed, the owl blinked and did not notice them, Mrs. Norris all but remained oblivious, and the hands of the clock slowly started ticking again once they had slipped past the first line of Hogwart's natural defenses.

"Well, this is where we have to split," said the first figure as the others huddled around him in one of the more concealing shadowed corners in the stone building. His voice was soft, but effortlessly so.

"Sure," another consents, female this time. "Let's meet tomorrow after breakfast again. How about in the courtyard?"

"Sounds good." A confirmation from the first.

"Yeah, yeah. I got it. Make sure sensei isn't late and everything," a third said with the wave of a hand, dismissing the topic.

"As if that'll ever happen," the last scoffed, already turning his back towards the rest of the group.

And so they split up, each heading a different direction with white masks sharply contrasting against black cloth even in the dimly lit hallways. One particular person bid farewell to his companions before dashing off at a speed too fast for the untrained eye to see.

Just outside of the entrance to the common rooms the figure stopped before taking off his ANBU mask and quickly placing a henge on himself to look closer to 'normal'. He quickly lengthened the sleeveless material so that it reached his hands and made the outfit look more loose than fitting. Hesitating for only another moment, he illusioned the black cloth so that it appeared to be orange. Satisfied with his results, Naruto stated his password and cautiously entered the Common Room though it was well past curfew and the other students were already asleep in their beds.

Slowly trudging his way upstairs to his dormitory, the genin hid his weapons and scrolls in the back pockets of his jacket, storing it for future use. It wasn't until after he entered his room, grabbed his pajamas, and changed in the bathroom that he let the henge fade, his orange jumpsuit turning back to the black that Kakashi-sensei had _insisted_ on using for the night-patrols.

_'At least it's comfortable and easy to move around in,'_ he thought. Kyuubi stirred within, flicking his tails lazily from the depths of his sealed cage.

**_'As if. Tell that to yourself the next time you get stuck in the tree branches and wait for the others to bail you out.' _**

_'Oh, shut up,'_ he growled back, not putting any real force behind his words. _'And for the last time, those trees made a grab for me!'_

**_'Ha ha. Sure.'_**

_'Grr.' _

After having brushed up and cleaned up any of the messes he might have brought in from outside, Naruto neatly folded his clothes with his ANBU-like mask and weapons hidden within. Then carefully tiptoeing around the others so as not to wake them, he placed the contents into his trunk and sealed it with a bit of Kyuubi's chakra until the next night they would go patrolling.

Having stored away all traces of 'super secret shinobi stuff,' as he liked to call it, he stopped to stretch and yawn before his poster bed.

"Finally back, eh?" a voice asked from the bed to his left.

Dammit. So not everyone was asleep after all.

"Took you long enough, though. Next time make sure all your classmates aren't actually faking their sleep before you leave." Naruto could just imagine the smirk on the other boy's face. 'Like me,' was written all across it.

"Yeah," Naruto replied while slipping into the covers of the bed. "Thanks for the advice."

"Where have you been all this time?"

"No where in particular."

"Fine. _Don't_ answer me. Just as long as you don't get caught," the voice trailed off.

"Whatever," the blond said as he reached over, placing his hitai-ate on the nightstand. Unlike the others, he didn't need that much light to see in the dark to know that the owner of the voice was sitting up in bed, exasperation apparent in his body language.

Oh yeah.

Raised eyebrows? _Check_.

That eye-twitchy thing? _Check_.

Bulging forehead veins you can only find in manga? _Check_.

Subtle flexing of fingers as if they want to throttle you? _Double check_.

Naruto gave a snicker. In response, the other boy tried glaring at him, but the darkness was too thick for it to have any impact whatsoever. In fact, the genin was sure that he wasn't even looking in the right direction and was trying to intimidate the nightstand into submission.

Another poorly covered laugh told the glaring boy that his attempts were put to waste. Giving up, the owner of the voice rolled his eyes and sighed as he admitted defeat.

"G'night, Uzumaki," he said before flopping back down into his pillow. Naruto did likewise and pulled the sheets up to his chin.

"Oyasumi, Malfoy…"

**_To Be Continued…_**

* * *

**Author's Notes: **

1. More on this later. I've been debating how the genin were going to be masquerading around, and I still haven't come to a solid solution.

2. Wands: These 'alumni' are of course, Fred and George Weasley.

Houses: Whoa! Jeez! A lot of people have made such a fuss about the fact that I put Sakura in Gryffindor instead of Naruto. Chill people! I've had this planned out since I announced that House Sortings were not going to be as expected for the most part – except that the spoiler is different because I drew that before I was set with my decisions and posted it without bothering to change the results. And I even went back and changed how they were Sorted to make it fit what was going to happen later on. _They drew lots, people._

Accents: Sorry. Won't be doing them because then I have a hard time understanding what I'd just written, and they tend to make the pages riddled with red marks due to 'spelling errors' and such. My computer's having a hard time with all the Japanese names and terminology as it is…

Sorting: If that confused you, don't worry about it. I was merely comparing the parallels between an orchestral performance and the Start of the Term Festival.

Q. I like (such and such) pairing. Could you please incorporate that into your fic?

A. Sorry. No parings. Zero. Nada. Zilch. Nil. Zip. None… Well, for the time being, anyway. I'll have some implied ones, but nothing between two main characters.

Q. When's the next chapter coming out? Please update soon?

A. I take a long time updating. I have _no_ idea when time will permit me to write. It's a miracle that I've gotten as far as is because I also have a problem with finishing pet projects of mine.

Q. Why do you downplay many of the characters' capabilities and potential?

A. Sorry – if it sounded like that, I didn't mean it in that way. It's just that it's a very common trait in authors to make younger children too mature as if they're adults with only a difference in height. At the same time, I recognize that shinobi are generally more grown up than what any of us could call 'normal' for their age group. Also, I was merely writing from a certain character's perspective without getting into first person pov – it doesn't necessarily mean that what they perceive as reality is true for the rest of the audience. In Naruto's case, when he is acting childish it is because he is masking his true self to put others at ease. We all know that he is much more capable of thought and maturity than what he shows to others.

**Other Ramblings: **

Mwahahaha! (evil grin) I can so envision the responses some of the people will give me after they've read this chapter. (ducks as a multitude of flames come crashing down on her head) Eep! Didn't I warn you guys in the chapters beforehand that something like this would happen?

This chapter is _definitely_ shorter than the previous ones… Mostly because I can't write too well where I'm living -- my roommate is bugging the hell out of me. Maybe school will let up in a little bit to allow me to continue with my semi-annual updates. XP -- But… It takes so friggin' _long_ for me to write! Why can't I work any faster? I mean, when I started this chapter, it took me an _hour and four minutes_ to write nine hundred words in dialogue format, and another fifty-eight to write seven hundred more! This is why I can't update any faster than three to five months at a time, if not longer. So start pestering me about updates only _after_ three months…

Also, I have spoilers for the next chapter. And I'll be putting up more fanart in the near future, so check my profile every once in a while (because I can't notify you of every spoiler or fanart right away).

_Yatsuka Hikagi _

_September 20, 2005_


	9. Prophetic Chaos

Mondays, Naruto decided, were the worst days to ever be created in the history of mankind.

It didn't help that he was stuck in a classroom full of kids shooting spells across the room at each other with a midget of a teacher who looked to be as small as the shrimpy Konohamaru back at home. Never mind the fact that they were reviewing the last five years' worth of material which he was _supposed_ to know (or at least pretend to) by levitating pin cushions and navigating them into specific boxes near the teacher's desk.

Naruto swore as a frilly pink cushion made a beeline for his head, ducking as he felt it graze his hair and collide with a 'fwoomp' against the wall. He shot his best intimidating glare at the perpetrator who was now cowering behind her best friend, making the other girl lose her concentration and send her own cushion flying straight into the teacher.

"Now class, I have to say tha-oof!"

Professor Flitwick was knocked into one of the gigantic containers before he disappeared from the students' view. Because of the loop spell that had been placed on the bins, he soon after appeared on one of the Slytherin's desks, earning a surprised shrill sound from the formerly inattentive Sixth Year male.

The scream caused others to turn towards its source, and before anyone knew it pillows were flying off in random directions, not at all going where they were intended. One of the cushions smacked straight into Malfoy's face, abruptly stopping his sniggers at the Charms Professor's predicament. Growling, he whipped his wand up and sent his own projectile at the offending Hufflepuff who was now frantically trying to get away from his seat while knocking a few of his classmates from their own.

After a huge domino effect in which even some of the books started bouncing out of their shelves, students were buried under heaps of cushions, and others were trying to help Flitwick from being trampled, the chaos started to subside a little.

Naruto looked around the classroom, suddenly feeling guilty for a crime that he didn't necessarily commit.

_'Oops,'_ he thought, pretending to be busy trying to get his own pillow-thing into one of the containers when people glanced his way.

* * *

**In Way of Trouble**

Chapter 09: "Prophetic Chaos"

By Hikagi

* * *

Ginny Weasley was starting to drift off in to a deep sleep with the heavy incense in the air doing little more than to make her head as foggy as the crystal ball in front of her. Off to her right, she could see that her classmates were in the same state, eyes drooping until a sudden jerk made their heads snap up in momentary alertness. Some were desperately trying to stay awake by blinking rapidly as if to shake themselves out of their stupor. Others were taking full advantage of the props on their tables to hide themselves from the teacher's view.

"Now I want groups of two to a crystal ball. Relax! Let the Inner Eye calm your mental state and fill your mind with visions! If you have any questions, I will be at my desk interpreting the dreams you have reported to me for last night's homework assignment or delving into the future with the use of my own Inner Eye."

Ginny bit back a sarcastic retort and turned to the girl next to her, eager to focus her quickly diminishing attention span anywhere other than on the hypnotic drone of the professor's lecture.

Suddenly, there was a shrill shriek followed by the soft tinkering sound of glass shattering on the wooden floor. The professor sat still in her place on her cushion, head bowed so low that her chin was nearly touching her neck as if she were heavily sedated.

It was as if a heavy blanket had been lifted off of their heads. Some of the students rushed forward to see if anything was wrong; others lingered behind, unsure if this was the Professor's idea of enacting what would happen if Saturn happened to be aligned with the Moon at the beginning of term.

_"Professor Trelawney?"_

_"What's wrong with her?"_

_"Is she okay?"_

Ginny ventured forward, the most daring of the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws combined, and knelt to place a hand on the frizzled-haired teacher's shoulder.

"Professor, are you alright?" she asked with a hint of concern in her voice. Despite the amount of bullshit this subject was covered in and the little regard everyone held for it, no one actually wanted to see the woman get hurt. Trelawney started muttering something unintelligible under her breath.

_"Merlin, I think she's had too much sherry today."_

_"At nine o'clock in the morning?"_

_"Good point, there."_

The muttering ceased, and the Professor rose with a vivid fluency that hadn't been present before. Even before she stood up, Ginny had a gut feeling that something was wrong with the woman. The appearance of blank-white eyes only served to confirm her suspicions.

Then with a voice that wasn't quite normal, she started saying something that brought shivers down to the very bone of every individual present in the room. The tone – the supernatural power present – made them all freeze. The words that came from her mouth rushed through them like a tempest bursting from the heavens with such intensity that they could do little more than stand there frozen. And like a dam-broken flood, it swept the students senseless until it gradually receded, ending with nothing more than a few trickling words at the end, the shock of witnessing an actual prophesy gradually wearing away.

There was a ringing silence as the prophesier ended her speech with her arms raised in the air and the children just stared at her warily. They remained rooted to their places, not daring to even breathe lest she would start another verse with her horrific voice.

_"What the bloody h-"_

_Slam!_

And before any of the students could move, the professor was out cold on the floor, glasses awry, shawl slipping off her shoulders.

Ginny was the first to snap out of the trance everyone seemed to be under. With a sense of authority she didn't know she had, she turned quickly and grabbed the first person she saw.

"Quick," she hissed. "Go get Madame Pomfrey."

As soon as the boy stuttered with a nod, Ginny grabbed the girl next to him. "And you, go get Professor Dumbledore. Tell him that something's wrong with the Divinations Teacher."

"S-sure," the girl squeaked before disappearing after the boy down the trap door. The buzzing of whispered noise began instantly.

_"What do you think Trelawney means?"_

_"It's obvious, isn't it? 'Until the earth runs red with the cries of the dead'? Hogwarts is going to be attacked!"_

_"Attack? Hogwarts? B-but, I don't wanna die!"_

_"Nonsense! I bet the old fart was just making all of that up! Doesn't she like predicting students' deaths?"_

_"Though, it was a bit strange how she targeted all of us instead of just one person this time."_

"And everyone else," Ginny said as she glanced over to the professor's still form. The whispers that had started after Trelawney's collapse quickly died down again. "Don't breathe a _word_ unless the Headmaster says otherwise."

And even though Ginny didn't show it, she was trembling inside. She wanted to say to everyone that Trelawney would be all right, but she couldn't. She wanted to say that Dumbledore would come up and fix things right away, but she couldn't. She wanted to say that this wouldn't be a repeat of their first years when they all lived in horror and fear of being killed, but she couldn't – not just after what had been said.

Because whether or not the other students realized, Ginny was positively sure that at least this time around, Trelawney wasn't faking her vision. This time around, it wasn't even Trelawney speaking. She was close enough to see that what ever had possessed her teacher's body had been intent on getting the message across. And right now, Ginny wanted to be anywhere except trying to organize the mess and calm the rest of the class down.

Just then, Dumbledore practically swept into the room with Madame Pomfrey and the two Second Years following closely behind. Seeing that the situation was taken care of, Ginny stepped away from the commotion and sat down on a nearby cushion, wrapping her arms around her legs in a fetal position, burying her head so that no one could see her face. Just before she passed out, one thought ran across her mind.

_'Merlin, is this what Harry went through last year when we pressured him into forming the DA?'_

* * *

During lunch, Sakura grabbed Naruto's arm before he could sit down with the rest of his Housemates. Some of the Slytherins shot glares at her audacity.

"We have a situation here," she whispered into his ears she nearly dragged him outside into the courtyard. "It seems like there's a rumor going around about us. The Divinations Professor apparently had a vision."

"Who cares?" Naruto shrugged after he brushed himself off and straightened his shoulders. "She seems like a quack to me. I don't see why anyone would believe her. Most of the time, she's as crazy as they come."

"But that's exactly the reason!" Sakura said and she wrung her hands together in a nervous fashion. "This time she wasn't acting like herself! And when I asked Granger, she mentioned that Trelawney had given two authentic prophesies before."

"What were those prophesies about?" he asked, already knowing the gist of what she was going to say.

"She said she didn't know, but I suspect that that's a lie."

Naruto sighed. This was going to be a lot harder than what he thought he had initially signed up for. "In any case, that just means that we'll have to put up our defenses faster. Our last patrol didn't cover nearly as much ground as I would have liked."

Sakura nodded, already heading back to the Great Hall. "Yeah. You want to go tonight?" Naruto nodded and he folded his arms behind his head and followed in a leisurely pace.

"Sure."

When they got to the Great Hall, everyone else seemed to be too busy eating to notice anything going. Sakura split from Naruto as he made his way back to his table with one lasting whisper exchanged between them.

"You tell Sasuke, I'll tell Shikamaru."

* * *

Harry's curiosity was getting the better of him. Hermione said that it was because he had a thirst for finding out about suspicious activities ("Shame that it isn't the same with your studies,") and was just inertly drawn towards danger. He had an almost sixth sense when it came to strange and unusual occurrences within the vicinity, like that one time with the Chamber of Secrets…

Shaking his head, he tried to forget about that incident. After all, not everything that had come to pass from his adventures had worked for the better.

Especially not Sirius…

Harry was brought out of his thoughts when he stumbled upon a sweet melody in the air. At first, he thought that Hagrid was playing his little recorder nearby his hut again, but something else made him think otherwise.

It didn't sound the same as their first year when the Golden Trio was looking for clues as to what was being guarded in the corridor on the 3rd floor.

Harry slowed to a sedate pace as he tried to creep up on whoever was making that beautiful sound.

In fact, if he listened carefully, it almost reminded him of… Fluffy, believe it or not.

He paused behind a large tree, and peered over to see a figure sitting on a rock. The figure finished his tune with a note in the lower register before resting the instrument on his lap.

"You can come out now," he said without having to turn his head around. "Don't worry, I don't bite. Much."

Harry tried to wipe off the look of surprise from his face. He stepped out of his spot and slowly made his way over.

"I don't think we've been properly introduced to each other," the figure said, extending a hand. "Sasuke Uchiha."

"Harry Potter," Harry said, nodding. And before he could stop himself, "Is that a flute?" (1)

Uchiha slightly raised an eyebrow as if amused. "Yeah. What about it?"

"N-nothing! I was just curious, that's all."

Uchiha shrugged as he started to attend to his instrument, shaking out the moisture from the head joint. "You know what they say – curiosity skinned the kitten's tongue in a bag." (2)

Harry looked at him with a very confused expression and the Ravenclaw grumbled.

"Dammit," he swore quietly. "These translation spells don't always get everything right."

Harry laughed as the tension gently lifted between them. They spent a few minutes in silence as the international exchange student cleaned and swabbed the rest of the flute.

But wait a second… If Dumbledore said that they were foreign exchange students, then who did they switch places with? Did the Headmaster actually _say_ that they were part of an exchange, or were they merely coming to study at Hogwarts for a year? He needed to ask Hermione on what she thought about this…

A snap followed by two clicks brought Harry back to the present as Uchiha closed his case and put it somewhere in the small pouch-like bag next to his side.

"So what makes you come out here with your flute?" Harry asked with mild interest. It sounded like such a vague and obvious attempt at making conversation, but somewhere in the back of his mind, he really _was_ interested.

"I like the sound it makes in the open air," the other boy replied. "It sounds… dead in the stone rooms in Hogwarts. The acoustics aren't exactly the best out there."

"I see," Harry said, not actually understanding what it meant when sound sounded dead. It wasn't alive in the first place or anything, so how could it…

"Have you ever played one before?" the boy asked, now that all his belongings were safely stored away.

"Yeah, once," Harry said. "It was my first year here at Hogwarts. I was trying to… put a dog to sleep." He grinned sheepishly at the obvious twist in his story. "It worked for a while before I nearly passed out from the lack of air. When it woke up, it tried to shred me to pieces. But I didn't sound nearly as good as you."

Uchiha looked like he was thinking about something as he nodded. "You have an… interesting curriculum here."

Harry laughed with surprising ease. It was strange. Here he was, talking to some stranger from halfway across the world, and he felt more relaxed than when he was around people he knew. Even compared to Ron, Hermione, Ginny, or any of the other Gryffindors he had become close to.

Maybe it was because Uchiha didn't expect anything in return from him. Maybe it was because Uchiha didn't know the full extent of the reputation The Boy Who Lived held in the Wizarding World. Maybe it was because they had just met and were conversing about something neutral that had no significance whatsoever on the future of the world.

But that in itself was strange. I mean, surely news about him had even reached Japan at some point? Unless, the Japanese Ministry was all hush-hush about Voldermort these days like here…

"Potter-san," Uchiha said as he waved his hand to catch his attention. "Is something wrong?"

Harry shook his head.

"Say, would you mind if I took a look at it?"

"The flute?"

"Yeah…" Harry grinned while scratching the back of his head in slight embarrassment. "Sorry I didn't ask before."

"No, no. Don't worry," Uchiha said while digging through his pouch. "Here."

"Thanks."

Harry took a few moments to inspect the instrument inside of its case.

"That's odd," he said as he noticed something off. "It looks different than the one I remember. For one thing mine wasn't made out of…"

"Metal?" the Ravenclaw asked, already used to that particular comment. "This one is one of the more expensive ones I have. From where I come from, most people have theirs made out of wood; saves money for when they break. One of the pluses of having one made from silver is that they're more durable and don't spoil as easily."

"Oh."

"Of course, this isn't my favorite make because it came from a foreign company," Uchiha trailed off as he stared at the flute without really seeing it. Harry noticed this and quickly snapped the case shut.

"Do you think you could teach me?" he asked as he handed the instrument back to its owner.

"To play?" the Ravenclaw asked in clarification. Harry nodded. "I see no reason not to… Except, you need your own. It's inconvenient to have to borrow people's all the time."

"Where can I get one?" Harry asked as the instrument was put away for the second time. Uchiha shrugged.

"With the exception of the one you just saw, mine are all custom-made. My personal favorite was made by one of my uncles who was a skilled craftsman. My other wooden flutes were presented to me by my cousins on my seventh birthday. They were lost during a fire, so I made myself new ones."

"So does that mean I have to order one?" he asked, wondering if the Wizarding World actually sold something that wasn't exactly magical.

_'I have enough Galleons for something like a flute, I suppose…'_

"_Saa_…" Uchiha said as he stretched and settled down into a more comfortable position on the rock. "Who knows? Unless, you can find the right materials to make one yourself."

_'Me… Make something?'_

Uchiha seemed to have heard the unspoken thought and gave a small smile.

"It's up to you," he said as he looked up into the sky. Harry recognized the look as being one of past reflection and decided not to ask what was on the other student's mind. "My family was really keen on emphasizing a balanced individual. If we didn't show signs of being specialized in anything, they made sure that we had more than enough skills in other fields to help support ourselves in the future. Apparently, carving art works and building instruments pays really well."

He was about to ask how the other student knew something like that when it was so obvious that Uchiha was a skilled wizard, but then remembered how the Ravenclaw seemed to be so far away when they were literally a few feet away from each other.

_'What did you experience that makes you look so lost?'_

"Is it hard?" Harry broke in after a few minutes of contently listening to the wind rustle against the grass and leaves. Uchiha frowned a little as he closed his eyes.

"In a way, I suppose," he said after a while. "I personally wouldn't be able to tell you. If people weren't capable of becoming outstanding shin- wizards, then they were considered a disgrace to the family name. Even though my uncle was really good at his job, he was considered somewhat of an outcast to the rest of us."

_'It sounds like the Slytherins and their obsession with the purity of their wizarding blood.' _

It made Harry wonder why the boy had been chosen to be Sorted with the Ravenclaws when he had traits that belonged in the other House as well. A voice in the back of his mind piped up at this train of thought.

_'Am I any different?'_

Thinking back, it made the Gryffindor question just how accurate the Hat had been when it had made that decision almost six years ago. What if there were others who could have fit into two or more Houses, but because of some piece of fabric had been herded into one corner of the school? Would he himself have done any better if he had chosen to don the silver and green colors?

"How much would they cost if I want to buy one instead?" Harry asked as he tried to break out of his train of thought. No use of thinking about that now… Uchiha didn't seem to notice the slight lapse in time.

"It depends. I know that my uncle's flutes would have sold for more than," Uchiha paused here. "Three hundred thousand En."

"That sounds like an awful lot of money," Harry commented as he tried to guess how much money that would convert to. What was the rate of yen to pounds? Or better yet, to Galleons? "I don't know if I can figure out how many notes I need for that."

"Betsuni," Uchiha replied. It took him a moment to realize that that didn't come out in English.

"Um…"

"Gomen," the Ravenclaw said as he pointed to the castle in indication of excusing himself.

"Translation charm starting to wear off?" Harry asked. The other boy nodded, and Harry took this as a sign that their conversation was over.

"Ja ne," Uchiha said as he waved goodbye.

"I'll see you around later then?" Harry asked as the figure disappeared into the castle.

* * *

"What was that for?" a figure said from above as the genin walked through the front doors.

"I was only trying to keep a better eye on him," Sasuke said as he kept walking down the hallway.

"But then you're going to be spending an awful lot of time around that kid." The voice came from one of the upper corners of the corridors. The genin figured that the other person was currently standing on the ceiling.

"What about it?" the Ravenclaw asked as he turned to go towards his dormitories.

"It's troublesome. What if you're in the middle of that and something happens?"

"I'll figure something out," Sasuke said as he looked around. Seeing no one nearby, he jumped onto the wall and started running sideways.

"You'd better, otherwise we're in for a lot of trouble," Shikamaru said as he slipped into the shadows and disappeared from view.

* * *

Hogshead pub. A safe haven for all those looking for a nice, quiet place to settle down for the evening for a good drink or two. A place where all those running from their spouses could go to when looking for a shelter to wait out the storm. The perfect hideout for shady dealers and other suspicious activities going about at Hogsmead.

Kakashi was here for reasons number one, three, and two. Yes, reason number three especially, though he supposed that the second option would do him some good in order to buy him more of a cover if he played it well enough.

Other people sat about the bar, milling about as they waited for their drinks to be served. Kakashi sat by himself on a dimly lit table near the corner of the room, sipping his own butterbeer contemplatively. He was waiting for his contact who was supposed to have shown up a quarter of an hour ago. Well, he supposed that sitting like a miserable fool didn't hurt his image any more than it would have had the other inhabitants of the room caught wind of who he really was. But still, that didn't prevent idiots from acting like… Well, _idiots_…

Nearby, to his two o' clock, was a group of strangely dressed people who were obviously not native to the lands. They reminded Kakashi of people who were desperately trying to mimic the latest fashions but failed miserably somewhere along the way. One of them was twirling a sharp knife around his finger while sipping at a small glass of water.

"And then, you know what I said?" another said with a slur as he downed the rest of his Fire Whiskey. "I told that sonuvabitch to get lost before I decided to kill him and his family." He took a swig from his jug and hiccupped. "And -_hic-_ you know what he did?"

The company crowded around the storyteller as he dramatically lowered his voice.

"He tried to fight back!" the man yelled after he caught everyone's attention. The rest of the table save the man with the twirling knives joined the drunken man in a collective roar as he slapped his leg with his free hand and pounded the table. The others followed suit in raising more noise with bouts of heavy laughter.

Kakashi proceeded to ignore the rowdy table and turned his attention back to his drink. A sudden draft made him dart his visible eye towards the entrance as he sensed something enter into the building. After a moment's glance, he decided that it wasn't the person he was looking for. But something about the new figure made him wary, so the jounin decided to keep an eye on him.

The group of rowdy individuals was still talking. Noticing their unusual attire, the stranger made his way towards them. He stopped when he stood in front of their table, as if waiting for them to acknowledge him in their midst. They didn't pause to greet the newcomer, but instead continued on as if the stranger had no part in their conversation.

"Are you Yohsuke Nishida?" the figure finally asked underneath his hooded robe after he had tired of waiting silently.

"That's Nishida-san to you," the drunk man replied as he took yet another large helping of alcohol into his system. The hooded man took this as an invitation and lowered his voice to an almost whisper.

"The Dark Lord was wondering if he could entice you to join his servic-"

"I'm on vacation," the man who was presumed to be Nishida interrupted. "Tell your boss to go suck his own dick."

The stranger bristled.

"Fool!" he hissed. "Don't you know who the Dark Lord is? I could kill you right here for such impu-"

And before anyone could react, the man fell hard to the ground.

"Stupid wizards," the man with the knives said. Kakashi noticed that he had a few less knives spinning around his fingers. "Going up against them is like an insult to our skills." The man sat down after retrieving the ones that had punctured the hooded man.

"What did you do that for, Nishida?" the drunken man who had been talking with the wizard said. Kakashi saw that this man was clearly not drunk anymore. Had it all been an act?

"And you, Inoue," the knife-wielding man said with just a hint of disgust in his voice. "You were supposed to just accept his proposition before things got out of hand. Even _if_ he got us mixed up."

"I could have taken him on!" Inoue yelled in return, jumping out of his chair in a challenge of authority.

The first man sneered as he wiped his knives clean of the blood.

"You are only considered a chuunin in our ranks," he said as he inspected them one last time. "Remember your place. Go back to acting drunk."

Inoue clenched his fists hard enough to draw blood before slamming back into his seat and picking up his drink in earnest. Kakashi sighed and rolled his eyes as the two shinobi who had been trying to blend in with the English community were joined by their other two companions. The crowd that had gathered at that table before for the storytelling was dispersed by this point due to the hooded man's interruption (and death).

"Let's go," one of the four said. "Our clients do not like to be kept waiting." And with that, the four shinobi left, leaving the infamous Copy-nin all to himself in that quarter of the building.

If this Inoue person was considered a chuunin, did that make Nishida a jounin? If so, then these shinobi were vastly under trained and experienced to be sniffing out his genjutsu anytime soon. After all, even Sakura as a genin had seen through his guise after she had gained the skill to do so. Of course, it helped if you knew what to look for and had a legendary San-nin guide you…

Just then, a haggled looking woman walked in with slumped shoulders carrying a broom and a tattered purse.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow in mild amusement and surprise.

_That,_ was certainly an interesting costume for his contact to come in. Well, he supposed it was no better than his own. To all others, Kakashi looked to be a wrinkly old man with gray hair wearing a bundle of rags that had been sown together.

The old hag sat down across from him and handed him a piece of paper, frowning at him as she did so.

"I hope you never return until you get these groceries picked up," the woman said with clear disdain in her voice.

"Don't worry. I'll get it done," Kakashi slurred as he tried to brush her off with a wave of his hand.

He tried to reach for his glass of butterbeer but the hag slapped his hands with her weapon. Kakashi rubbed his hands where they stung, feeling the blood pound in his veins where red marks appeared on his skin.

"Goddammit, woman!" he yelled a little too loudly. The other people in the bar turned to look at what they had assumed to be a normal elderly couple. "Can't you ever leave me in peace when I'm trying to drink?"

His 'wife' decided to drag him out of the pub at this point.

"You can't get anything done when you're getting dead ass drunk! Hurry on up and get out of this place!"

The other married men gave Kakashi sympathetic looks as his presumed wife proceeded to haul him with almost inhuman strength. Kakashi decided to play the drunkard husband a little more and made it hard for the woman to carry him through his staggering.

When they had finally made it outside and walked in the direction of the Shrieking Shack, Kakashi dropped his genjutsu. The old hag did the same.

"By George, you're as heavy as an ox and as stubborn as one too!" 'she' said in a hoarse voice as the female attire was transfigured back into male clothing.

"I'll take that as a compliment, Dung," Kakashi replied as he flexed his fingers. Cripes, his hands still stung.

Dung flashed him a smile.

"Well, this is the only info I could get around the circles. They say that there's been surges of dark magic performed around this area. Most of the folks I know are too afraid of reporting to the Ministry because of their track records though, so it almost never gets released to the people who need it. And most of the people in the Order don't trust my sources anyway."

Kakashi looked down at the 'shopping list' from earlier.

"I'll look into it," he said while he pocketed the paper. "Thanks a lot. I appreciate it."

Kakashi gave the other man a small bag that made a jingling noise in return.

"No problem. Just call me again if you need anything else."

"Will do."

And then Dung Apparated out. Kakashi then looked around, and seeing no one else around, teleported himself to a nearby treetop. He recalled the contents of the information to mind.

"Riddle Manor," he said out loud in a quite voice. "Dead bodies found near area. Flashes of ominous light. Chants and secret meetings. Coincides with phases of the moon."

This was going to be an interesting stealth and infiltration mission.

**_To Be Continued…_**

* * *

**Author's Notes: **

1. Flute: I've planned the flute part for a reeeeeeally long time. It was inspired by one of the manga covers, I think. It's been so long, that I don't remember which… But I think it was one of the chapters earlier on in the series.

2. Expression: "curiosity skinned the kitten's tongue in a bag" – was a spin-off on "curiosity killed the cat," "more than one way to skin a cat," "cat got your tongue," and "cat in the bag." Sasuke's charm happened to combine all four together, which resulted in an interesting phrase.

Houses: First off, thanks to all the guys who understood why I made the houses the way they are. Sometimes it takes a good reader to truly comprehend what's going on; all the little stuff tends to go over people's heads. Secondly, most of the people hit it right when they figured it was for the plot purposes. I mean, people have tried pointing out some of each person's characteristics and why they would fit into a certain house, but they forget that over half the fanfics out there have very OOC Narutos and likewise. If you want to correct me, then please do so only after you find out where I'm going with all of this. I've already mentioned in the first chapter that this wasn't going to be strictly following canon.

Other news: Cheers everyone! Today is the second anniversary since the beginnings of IWoT here on FFN! And with the exception of possibly one or two other discontinued fanfics out there, I believe it's the first NRT/HP crossover?

Hmm… This chapter was a little easier to write than the others because I've had the flute part in mind when I first started this story. And now, exactly two years after its beginnings, I _finally_ get that part done. Haha… Plus the concept of the prophecy was something that I always wanted to include as well. Of course, I don't put down the prophecy in its entirety up here just yet. Coughthat'sbecauseIdon'thaveallofitplannedoutcough. Ahem! I mean, because that's for me to know, and you to find out as the story progresses! Aren't I evil?

And don't forget to check my profile every once in a while for spoiler notifications! I'll be working on the one for the next chapter, so hopefully I'll get it done soon…

_Yatsuka Hikagi _

_January 07, 2006_


	10. Un Fortunate

Everything was dreamy, from the smell of the grass in the wind to the hazy colors dotting the landscape. The mountains were luxurious in the background with little caps of snow at its peaks, giving him the feeling that he was in the middle of a wild pasture.

There was a young girl wearing a sundress and hat in front of him, picking flowers in the vast fields of color and sweet scents. Either she hadn't seen him or had already acknowledged his presence quite some time ago when he had first stumbled into the scenery. Finding nothing else to do, he had sat down on the grass and had watched her pick more flowers. Every once in a while he would help the girl by handing her an empty basket from his right when her current one became too full.

Hours had passed by in this fashion, but he wasn't bored like what most people would presume. In fact, this activity was very calming and peaceful – something he had not had the chance to experience under recent circumstances. The little girl reminded him of someone he had known during childhood – his earlier years, that is. After all, twelve wouldn't be considered as that old of an age in his current society.

"I'm sorry," the girl said after quite some time, brushing her hair behind her ears as he handed her another basket. "Am I troubling you too much?"

He dismissed her thoughts with a wave of his hand. "Of course not! What makes you think that?"

She giggled as she took the empty straw object while handing him a full one. There were many more baskets to fill – so many that he couldn't count them all, but the girl had already amassed quite a few loads of flowers that were sitting together on his left side.

"Aren't you getting tired?" she asked as she sat down next to him, rolling up her sleeves and daintily snipping the stems from a chrysanthemum nearby. Her small fingers worked quickly at getting rid of unwanted dirt and strings clinging to the green body, nimbly picking brushing the excess grass that had been cut alongside with the flower.

He rubbed his eyes blearily and swatted a few lazy bugs out of his face. "Not really."

"Why don't you take a nap?" she insisted as she gently placed the chrysanthemum into the basket and found another plant to her fancy from her vantage point. Taking her fingers and making a scissor motion, she neatly cut the stem in two and began grooming the flower in the same fashion before moving on to the next one. (1)

"I don't need a nap," he said as he tried to cover up his yawn. The wind picked up a bit and the girl paused her work to keep her hat from flying away. He could tell that she wasn't convinced with his last statement even though he couldn't really see her face under that hat of hers. She was frowning slightly, and he could imagine that her eyebrows were pressed together in displeasure.

"What color is this?" she asked, holding out a flower towards him. He couldn't tell, which was really strange, because everything around him was colorful – or so it seemed. As soon as he tried to focus his attention to one object, his senses would evade him. There was a patch of yellow flowers next to him, but when he would stare at them, they wouldn't look so yellow anymore. And the sky was blue, or at least what he _thought_ was blue.

"What's going on?" he asked, now slightly confused. She smiled gently, holding his hand in a reassuring manner.

"You need to wake up," she said, pressing a daffodil into his hand. He tried grabbing the flower, but found that his muscles were reacting sluggishly. She nodded at him in an encouraging manner. _"Go on, wake up."_

_"Wake up."_

* * *

**In Way of Trouble**

Chapter 10: "Un Fortunate"

By Hikagi

* * *

"Wake up."

"Wake up, Uzumaki," he heard someone say, now in a male voice. The image of the girl was superimposed and then replaced by a familiar blond person standing over his bed. Naruto blinked a few times, shaking his head as if to chase the dream away.

"I'm up, I'm up!" Naruto proclaimed, jumping to his feet. The big field of flowers slowly changed until they settled on maintaining the appearance of the Slytherin dorm rooms. The trees were gone to be replaced by the draperies, lush green grass turned into the carpets, and the baskets of flowers were now posing as random articles of clothes lying about.

Draco sighed exasperatedly and rubbed his head tiredly, not unlike that of his biggest rival as the whirlwind known as Slytherin's international student swept into the bathroom.

"You're going to miss breakfast at this rate," he called. "Hurry up and get dressed so that we can go down to eat. I'm not going to let you wander around by yourself while you're still trying to adjust to this school." '_Even if it had already been nearly a month into term,'_ he added as an afterthought. "Besides, you're going to be late for class if you keep this up. It's still only Friday after all."

"Mrai bou bhat," Naruto's muffled voice came through the door as he started brushing his teeth. There was the sound of running water and someone spitting followed by a lot of splash noises and the squeaks that indicated the faucet knobs being closed. Naruto emerged, face shining clean as his trademark smile and hair dripping wet.

"Do something about the mop on your head," Draco growled, now not caring one way or another. He was hungry, dammit, and if the 'new' kid was going to keep him any longer, then he was going to leave by himself! Storming out of the dorms, the prefect grabbed his robe and made his way to the Common Room, grumbling about his charge.

Shrugging as if this were a normal occurrence, Naruto set about to change into his Hogwarts uniform, pulling on the socks and slipping on his vest. He made a face at the tie, but put it on anyway even though he hated things that restricted his breathing. It was impractical for shinobi in the style of dress, but at least it went well with the rest of the drab clothing that the wizards embraced.

He looked down for his shoes to see that there was a spare Sickle at his feet. Naruto bent down to pick it up, smiling as he did so.

Today was going to be a good day – he could feel it in his bones. He couldn't wait to go outside.

* * *

Today was going to be a horrible day – he could feel it in his bones. He couldn't wait to go back inside.

It was starting to get a little windy now that school was taking up a good portion of their time. Shikamaru breathed out a puff of air and noted that it was visible. He stuffed his arms further into his robe pockets and wrapped his scarf tighter around his neck, tripping on an invisible tree root in the process.

Damn European weather. It was always cloudy in the gloomy sense and so unreasonable to boot. He couldn't understand why people choose to spend the time outside when it was more comfortable to just hole up in their dormitories all day. The rest of his team fit into that category as well.

_"C'mon, Shikamaru! We have to go outside! Today's Saturday!" _

_"Yeah! Let's have some fun! We've been cooped up in here too long." _

_"Plus we can squeeze in some training if we're careful enough." _

He didn't know if it was genuine interest in going outside when there was still daylight around, or whether it was to look inconspicuous when all of the other students were frolicking around while possible. He supposed it was both. But that didn't mean that they had to drag him with them on their little meetings all the time when the only thing they did was train, train, and train some more. He enjoyed sleeping in, thank you very much.

So here he was, traipsing around the school grounds, stumbling over nonexistent hindrances along the way while his senses adjusted to the early morning. The others had gone ahead of him after bursting into his dorm room and creating a ruckus.

Wait a minute… How did a Slytherin, a Ravenclaw, and a Gryffindor _female_ find the way into his room? It sounded like the start of some corny joke.

After snagging his robes for the millionth time since he exited the castle, he was just about ready to burst. His veins were ticking with that ever so familiar sense of being pissed off, and his patience was wearing thin.

"Hey, are you here for the Quidditch tryouts?"

Shikamaru turned to face the voice. A tall Sixth Year Hufflepuff was walking up to him, broom in one hand and a…(struggling?) box in the other.

"Not really," he shrugged, still not paying full attention to his senior. "I'm not interested." Truth be told, he was interested in _anything_ that would make him stop feeling like he had to strangle something, but he didn't want to change the general public opinion about himself anytime soon.

The other boy's face fell and became visibly gloomy. His shoulders sagged a little in defeat as if he had had his hope crushed more than a few times during the past hour or so.

"Oh. I see…"

Shikamaru stopped his efforts to locate his teammate's new meeting place (they insisted on new locations every time to make it hard for outsiders to track them down) and instead looked back at the forlorn student with a hint of dread at what he knew was coming up next.

"Why do you ask?" he asked, hoping against hope that he wouldn't be dragged into something he would later regret. If this guy thought anything alike a certain blond teammate back at home, then there was no way he would be able to wriggle out of whatever the Sixth Year had in mind.

"Well, ever since Cedric Diggory died (God bless him)," the older boy began, "we've been having a hard time finding replacements. Nobody was any good, and our new captain's about to pull out her hair." He looked dejectedly at the box in his arms. "We don't have a chance in the world for the Quidditch Cup this year."

Shikamaru sighed before coming to a decision; he gestured to the broom and the box.

"Fine, I'll give it a try."

His team would understand if he skipped out on a meeting just this once…

* * *

A few hours later, Shikamaru stormed into the study session located in the library, startling some of the younger students (not that the shinobi were older by that many months or years) and upsetting the librarian in the process. Sasuke and a few other Ravenclaws were gathered around towards the back of the room, going over the past week's Transfiguration and Charms notes. They looked up when the chuunin slumped down at their table with a deeper frown than usual.

"Next time they ask me to ride a broom," Shikamaru scowled, "I'm going to break it in half and hand it back to them."

"What's going on?" Sasuke asked; he was interested in the reason as to why their platoon leader had missed their morning meeting.

Shikamaru gave him an uncharacteristic glare.

"I'll tell you what's freakin' wrong: It tried to _kill_ me the minute I left the ground. And then I couldn't gain control back over it, and they expected me to _catch the ball_ all the while!"

The Ravenclaws sat in silence, not understanding what the Hufflepuff was talking about. Madam Prince was shooting daggers at them as well.

"You mean," the boy on the right of Sasuke piped up, "you've just come back from the Hufflepuff Quidditch tryouts?" Shikamaru didn't answer him.

"I heard that their captain's looking for players this year," another said.

"But half the students are afraid to tryout because of the bad luck they think is hanging over the Teams' heads."

_'Bad luck?' _

"Or the high casualty percentages."

_'Casualties?' _

"But to go through the trouble to try to recruit the new student? Isn't that just asking for disaster?"

Shikamaru sank further into his chair and tried to forget the last few hours' worth of torture. Those Bullshit-whatevers had been aiming for his _face_, gawddammit!

_'Just what did I sign up for?' _

There was a sudden hush in the library as the door opened and emitted the Hufflepuff captain from before.

_'Please don't walk this way, please don't walk this way, please don't walk this way,'_ Shikamaru repeated over in his head, praying to the gods above in desperation that someone would hear him.

"Hey, Nara!" he whispered, walking up to the chuunin. Shikamaru changed his mantra to something else instead.

_'This had better not be about my horrible flying, this had better not be about the flying, not the flying, not the flying…'_

The Sixth Year stood next to him with a huge grin on his face as if he'd just struck a big pot of gold.

"I'm here about your performance earlier this morning," he said, still smiling. Shikamaru mentally glared at the heavens as if blaming the forces for not answering his pleas.

_'Thanks a lot.' _

"You're in, Nara," the captain said, delivering a few hard pats to the shinobi's back. "Congrats. Practices are on late Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday afternoons when we can book the field. Our first game's against Gryffindor in November. The Slytherins and Ravenclaws had some sort of issue with their team players so they requested some time to recuperate…"

Shikamaru sat there, stunned. He vaguely heard the older boy telling him a few more things about flying tips and such before the librarian ushered him out of the room, but the severity of those words had yet to fully register in his brain.

_'I'm… in…'_

He blinked up, finally realizing just what exactly he had just been accepted into. Soft, muffled sounds shook him out of his thoughts and it took him a moment or so to identify them as snickers.

Kami-sama, _no_. He did _not_ just hear what he thought he heard. Frantically looking around, his eyes settled on his fellow teammate.

"Where is he?" Shikamaru heard himself ask.

"He left just now while you were spaced out," Sasuke smirked.

"Which direction?"

The other boy shrugged in response. Shikamaru sank further into his chair, feeling overwhelmed at the turn of events. Just _how_ was he supposed to juggle the mission, school, _and_ an extracurricular activity? The first took up a tremendous amount of time, the second was a bit of a nuisance because he had supposedly already graduated out of the only schooling he'd ever need, and the third was a waste of energy because he didn't feel like looking like an ass while being suspended in the air, _dammit_!

"Good luck, mate. If you're really as bad as you say, then they must be _really_ desperate this year."

A growl escaped from his throat as Shikamaru let his head slam into the table and left it there.

_'I am going to kill whoever's responsible!'_

* * *

When Hermione had asked Sakura what one of her favorite traditional dishes was, she was surprised to hear that it wasn't something like sushi, dango, onigiri, rice cake, or sashimi. Instead, she had liked something called ox-tail stew, which Hermione was _sure_ couldn't be found conveniently in Japan. It was not a dish that an island nation could produce naturally or in abundant amounts, as a matter of fact. Heck, was it even native to Japan? (2)

"Something's strange about that girl," she muttered to herself as she began planning ahead for everyone's Christmas presents even though she had nearly two months until then.

"Indeed," Ginny responded, settling further into the squishy chair in the Gryffindor common room. She was the closest to the fire and was currently reading a novel she had picked up at Florish and Botts before term had begun.

"I asked her what her hometown was," Hermione continued, "and she said it was Tokyo."

"Well, that's a pretty big town. I'm sure there are a lot of Japanese people living in that area. Even _I've_ heard of it." Of course she had. It was like asking any other person where the Pyramids were located, or where Panda Bears were from.

"The funny thing is that she started describing her house and everything, but the structure of the building doesn't sound like anything that could be found in that city. The foundations are all off for an architect to come up with considering the components of the ground and the regular earthquakes that hit Japan…"

"Mmhmm," Ginny replied as she turned a page, totally engrossed with the text.

"I asked for her address and she replied that she lived on Haruno Lane which was named after her family."

"So?"

"There _is_ no street called Haruno in Tokyo," Hermione said in the tone of voice that suggested that that bit of information was obvious.

Ginny's eyes were still glued to the words in front of her. "Uh huh. That's interesting."

"Did you hear me?" the prefect asked, arching an eyebrow skeptically. She snuck up in front of the redhead and peered over the top of the book, trying to gain eye contact.

"I did," Ginny acknowledged without looking up, not falling for Hermione's game. "And it sounds like you're overreacting. Maybe you're just irritated that there's something you actually don't know about. Besides, I'd think that someone living in Tokyo would know more about their streets than someone who had never been there."

Hermione ignored that last statement and started pacing around the room. "Sakura's not _from_ Tokyo. Something is up with our international student and the w– and just _what_ are you reading?" She stopped pacing.

Ginny noticed that the continuous rambling stopped and looked to see what had caught the prefect's attention. "Oh this?"

Ginny held up the book title for Hermione to see. It read, _"Wandless Magic: How to Practice and Master Using Magic With Only Your Hands."_

"Sakura was interested in learning about how to use wandless magic, so I ordered it. It says some interesting things, like how to control the flow of magic by meditating daily and doing physical exercise. I haven't shown it to her yet."

"That's a load of rubbish," Hermione said. "Everyone knows that it's nearly impossible to work magic unless you have a wand as a focus. Wandless magic is extremely difficult to do and dangerous without a wand core, which is why there are so few Animagi in the world. Wordless magic is hard enough already."

"So what?" Ginny shrugged. "I think it's amusing. They say here that if you do these things, you can learn how to stick to walls and walk on water."

"We have charms for that," she replied, bristling. "Those things are not entirely impossible – I just haven't figured out how to perform them yet."

"Sure, sure," Ginny said with humor evident in her voice, turning her attention back to the book.

Hermione stormed back into her room to work on that three-foot essay Professor Binns had asked for regarding the unsuccessful invasion Giant Brundel had lead in his conquest to take over Siberia. (3)

* * *

Naruto was running down the halls at a remarkably slow pace – which was still faster than any of his classmates could ever hope to accomplish. His excitement was barely containable as he skipped through the crowds of people, weaving in and out of the masses of bodies that filled the school.

He rushed into the Great Hall smiling from ear to ear. He said good morning to the nearest person, which so happened to be the sleep-deprived Ronald Weasley. Weasley, of course, returned the greeting with an enthusiastic response that was equivalent to that of Shikamaru's.

"What's wrong with him? Why is he so bloody cheerful at this time?" Ron grumbled as the energy rolling off the Sixth Year Slytherin reached him.

Harry inwardly laughed. "Not everyone is as grumpy as you in the morning." But that didn't stop Ron from mumbling anyway. After seeing that the Gryffindors (Sakura-chan included) didn't share his mood, Naruto casually waltzed to the Slytherin tables where he joined the rest of his classmates in munching on their meals.

"Not many of them are morning people," Draco stated as the Kyuubi vessel sat down.

Naruto made a face as he grabbed for some toast. "But breakfast is later than usual on Sundays."

"How'd you do that anyway?" Draco asked, waving a spoon full of jam in the Gryffindors' direction. "Normally I'd attract too much attention exchanging words with _that_ lot, but you make it seem so easy."

"Eh?" Naruto squinted, confused. "I didn't try to make him mad on purpose."

"Whatever you say," the Sixth Year replied, shrugging. "Besides, why are you in such a good mood?"

"Because today's a special day!" Naruto proclaimed.

Because today was the day he turned thirteen years old. But he couldn't just go around announcing it to everyone. Despite his love for attention, it felt strange to offer up that information without some sort of prompting. Besides, he might accidentally reveal something in the process.

They spent the next few minutes in silence, in which Naruto gulped down the remainder of his food. He quickly swallowed and wiped his face on a napkin before drinking the rest of the contents of his cup.

"Leaving already?" Draco asked, still spreading jam on his slice of toast.

"Something's come up," he replied. "I have some personal business to attend to."

Draco nodded. Naruto was glad that at least the Slytherins weren't as prying or suspicious about secrecy as some of the other Houses – they all had something to hide. He had a much easier time explaining his absences than his teammates, granted that he was sure they were trying to keep tabs on him.

A few minutes later, he was running to the Forbidden Forest in his usual orange jumpsuit – the black suits were only for patrolling or during the night. His Hogwarts robes were safely tucked under his arm for a quick retreat back. When he reached the meeting place, he was surprised to see that the other three were dressed in all white and not their usual attire.

"Hey guys," he called out cheerfully. "What's going on today?" Sakura visibly stiffened and Naruto flinched at the punch that was sure to follow. But oddly enough, the kunoichi lowered her arm and chose to say nothing. Naruto arched an eyebrow.

"Today is the day that the Yondaime died, Dead Last," Sasuke said after a while. "Or were you so stupid that you forgot about that already?"

Naruto felt like he had been delivered a critical blow to his gut. Although he hadn't really forgotten about _today_, he also hadn't really told anyone how his birth date coincided with the sealing of the Kyuubi and the Yondaime's consequent death. When they had been younger, he had announced it to as many people as possible, handing birthday invitations to all of his classmates. No one had shown up and he had spent the whole day singing by himself to himself for himself.

When people had ignored him after a few years, he had stopped reminding them. Once he had gone out to investigate why his invitations had been ignored only to find families kneeling in front of a small alter through what windows he was tall enough to see through.

The only birthday present he had ever gotten had been before he graduated the academy. Someone had left him a package on his doorstep with a pair of goggles and an unsigned card. The next day when he wore them to class, he had been pleased to see that his good mood was contagious as the normally shy girl with weird eyes (back then he didn't know her name was Hinata) was smiling more than usual. (4)

He had been touched and treasured his goggles like his most prized possession. That had only been replaced with his hitai-ate, but the goggles had been proudly showcased in his bedroom next to the mirror during the short time he kept it afterwards.

Thinking back to those times when he would buy a slice of over-priced cake to celebrate, Naruto hung his head in shame. Of course – how could he have forgotten? No one was willing to acknowledge the Kyuubi brat in comparison to the magnificent Yondaime. In retrospect, they had probably also figured his brash announcements to be a particularily cruel joke on a day of mourning.

Naruto turned to his teammates, watching from the sidelines as they offered up a small offering to their deceased Hokage. Sakura lead the ritual of setting aside the bowl of rice and the burning sticks in the clearing. She wrote a few words of prayer on white sheet of paper and set all of the objects in a makeshift shrine.

They spent the meeting paying their respects to the Yondaime and all the people who had passed away from the Kyuubi attack. Naruto hung back and witnessed this, fidgeting under the irony of it all.

He decided not to remind him what else this day was known for. His teammates would probably also take it as a poorly executed joke.

* * *

"Here," Hermione said a few weeks later in the Gryffindor Common Room, placing an object in front of her friend.

"What's this?" Sakura asked as she set her book down on her lap, marking the page by folding a corner.

"You didn't know?" the witch said, surprised. "It's a candy from Tokyo. I specially placed an order through owl just for you. I heard it was quite popular."

"Oh," she said, eyeing the Animal Candy with uncertainty.

There it was. _That_ look. The look that had been increasing in number ever since Hermione had started becoming suspicious about her international Japanese friend. It was a look of surprise and slight nervousness that was quickly replaced by another that masked her emotions by placing a fake one on top. Hermione had been surprised at first at how suddenly her friend could shift through emotions in a split second.

"What about that package?" Sakura asked, pointing at the box that was still in Hermione's arms.

"Oh," Hermione said. "I forgot to tell you! The real reason why I ordered candy in the first place was because it came with a special item. Here!" She opened the box and took out a piece of cloth, tossing it at the pink-haired kunoichi.

Sakura looked confused as she fingered the object in front of her, feeling the fabric in her hands. "What is it?"

"We're going to wear it to the costume party tonight, of course!" she grinned with a sparkle in her eyes.

"What party?" Sakura asked, now wary of the undertone of malicious glee in her friend's voice.

"Why, the Halloween Festival," Hermione replied, as-a-matter-of-factly. "This is the first time Dumbledore's letting us wear something other than our robes to a Festival!"

"Hal-lo-ween?"

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you don't know about that?"

"Eh heh," Sakura laughed uncomfortably. "I don't know that much about English customs or anything."

"I see. Well, Halloween was originally called All Hallow's Eve…"

* * *

"Is this really necessary?"

"Of course! They say that this is a popular costume in Tokyo nowadays."

Sakura was starting to feel nervous. It seemed that Hermione was trying to make her feel more comfortable by referring to a lot of things from her hometown (or what was _supposed_ to be her hometown). But she didn't know the first thing about mainstream pop culture in Tokyo! Shinobi villages weren't anything like modern day cities!

She never should have mentioned the first city that came to her mind that was located in Japan. But that was what everyone else had been told, and she couldn't let them think otherwise. She sighed, brushing a stray lock of hair back into place.

"I can't help but feel slightly exposed in this…" Sakura said, examining her costume.

"Oh, come off it! It can't be _that_ bad! Besides, you probably wore something like this while going to school! I heard from one of the International Relations wizards that wizards and witches in Japan attend normal school during the day and magic school during cram-session hours."

"…"

Sakura couldn't help but fidget as she tugged at the decent-length (thank God) skirt. At least it wasn't short to the point where it bordered on perversion at Jiraya's level. It wasn't the most practical of all outfits, but she wasn't about to complain. At least her costume wasn't as outrageous as some of the things she had seen other shinobi wear.

But still… Her hair was tied in two clumps, making her feel like the much younger version of Tsunade and Tenten put together. It made her head feel heavier as all of the weight was now concentrated into the ponytails in comparison to before.

"What did you call this?" Sakura asked, tugging at the skirt again.

_'And how in the seven hells did she manage to drag me into this mess?'_

"I believe it was called the Seira Fuku… And if I remember correctly, your style is that of…. Tsukino Usagi the second, also known as Sailor Chibi Moon. Your hair color matches, after all."

Three hours ago, Hermione had given her a full rundown of 'Sailor Moon' that she had read from a magazine abstract. She had seen the outfit and immediately ordered the one that had pink hair.

While it had been done with good intentions, Sakura couldn't help but feel tainted wearing the nauseously cute school uniform to the party. At least she had been able to convince _Naruko_ to do the same by posing in a 'Tsukino Usagi the first' uniform, aka Sailor Moon. He/she had been enthusiastic about it after Sakura had explained that everyone was coming in costume and wouldn't be recognized. She had also mentioned that it would be the ideal time to play pranks on others.

And by the looks of it, he was getting really into it. As in really, _really_ into it…

"And in the name of the Moon, I shall (coughkickyourassescough) punish you!"

… With ninja hand seals and all (Naruko had decided that she would do half seals on each hand, the Ox for the left and the Tiger for the right), even if it were slightly different than what the magazine articles had depicted…

There was a big poof of insubstantial smoke after that little speech, making the others clap at Naruko's amazing display of smoke charms. Sakura sighed. At least Naruto's Sexy no Jutsu was being put to a better use than before…

"Oi, Chibi Usa-chan," Naruko called, waving a hand in her direction.

_'Oh…'_ she glowered. _'He did not just call me that…'_

* * *

Cho Chang had immediately liked his costume, never mind the fact that he wasn't really wearing one in the first place. He had come clothed in his 'Muggle' attire which had equated to just his regular blue-fan shirt and khaki pants. Of course, he still maintained his sixteen-year old form. There would be too many questions if people figured that he had somehow managed to concoct a Reverse Aging potion.

"Oh, Uchiha! What are you supposed to be?" she asked, batting her eyelashes in her bat-like costume.

"A ninja," he replied with his deadpanned voice. Kami-sama, didn't she know when to drop it?

"I know a little bit about ninjas from the stories my grandfather told me about his travels in China. His father used to be a traveling merchant and hired them on occasion. I think you look really good in it," she said, clasping one of her arms around his. "Oh, is that a ninja star pouch?"

"They're called _shuriken_," Sasuke replied. "And I don't like clingy girls." With that said, he untangled himself and walked away.

--

He was trying to blend into the wall by using a slight genjutsu to make the people around him glaze over his figure. As long as no one was actively seeking him out, he would remain hidden in the open.

"Enjoying yourself?" a voice asked above him.

"Hn. As if," he replied.

The figure dropped down from the wall and landed with grace which made it evident that his genjutsu was strong enough to support two people. "Ha ha. You're too stiff as usual. Just relax a little."

He changed the subject. "And what sort of bishoujo are _you_ supposed to be?" He pointed to the skirt and ponytails.

Naruto grinned and blew him a raspberry. "Just to inform you, _I'm_ the Senshi of the Moon! And I can kick your ninja-wannabe ass any day with my spectacular lovey-dovey moves!"

They both smirked at this.

"You should get going. I'll make sure nothing happens," Sasuke said, all jokes aside.

"Thanks. I'll be leaving soon."

There was a slight shift in the wind as Naruto created two kage-bushin and sent them into the crowds. Sakura saw the clones and excused herself to go use the restrooms. Upon leaving the Great Hall, she and Naruto changed into their patrol uniforms separately in the broom closet. They handed their costumes to Sasuke, who stashed it away somewhere by using a genjutsu to hide them.

"Well be back in about four hours."

"Shikamaru and I will be waiting at the Main Doors to switch off with you guys."

"Good. Make sure that the bushin don't get clobbered."

"Hn."

Nodding to each other, they left in separate directions, Sasuke going back to 'enjoy' the party and the other two towards the Forest to check the grounds.

* * *

A middle-aged man with brown hair walked out from behind a row of graves, adjusting his robes and making sure that his disguise was in place. A big black dog followed closely behind him, wagging his tail in excitement and anticipation.

The man stooped down to his companion's eye-level and placed a hand on the dog's head, petting the animal and scratching it behind the ears. His eyes were half closed with weariness and the wrinkles in his skin seemed more evident under the light of the setting sun.

"Whatever you do," he said in the softest of whispers, staring straight into the dog's gaze as if it could understand, "don't get caught. If something happens to me, get out and contact the rest of the pack and the Order. Albus would know what to do, so head straight for him."

The dog gave a small whine as if begging for the man to reconsider the orders he had given.

"I know, I know," the man said. "I would have had Pakkun do the job, but he's busy elsewhere." The dog gave another whine, earning a rare slight smile from his human friend. "Don't worry, you'll do just fine. I have faith in your abilities, just like I do for all of my Nin-dogs."

The man gave the dog a few last scratches.

"It's time for me to go. Remember what I told you before."

The man stood up, adjusting his robes one last time before putting on his hood. He reached into one of his inner pockets and took out a white mask, placing it over his face so that it fit snuggly. He waved goodbye to his companion and made his way towards the manor on top of the hill.

"See you later."

**_To Be Continued…_**

* * *

**Author's Notes: **

1. The girl was cutting the flowers with her bare hands, using her fingers as scissors. Who this girl is, I can't tell you. You're more than welcome to guess, however.

2. No, Sakura's favorite food is not ox-tail soup. She was just spouting the first thing that came up to mind. Urm, it's actually something that my grandmother loves to make for the family. She called it _kori-kongtang_. I think it's funny how a few people bring up something that's been bothering them, and it just so happens to be touched upon in the next chapter. That is, someone was asking about why I said that they were from both China and Japan. Hopefully things will become clearer in the future.

3. You guys should know me by now. I make things up that are convenient for me.

4. Thanks to lackey H for letting me use his idea about Naruto's birthday.

… Don't ask where the Halloween costume ideas came from – I swear I was tired and delirious when I was writing that part. And for Sailor Moon fans, I'm sorry for the minor bashing. Well, I guess I was inspired by watching the entire Live Action series of _Bishoujo Sailor Moon_ along with its Kirari Super Live Concert…

Please visit my forums for updates and other information/spoilers. There's a link in my profile.

One last notice -- IWoT has reached over 20 thousand hits! W00t! That means a) a lot of people have been reading it, b) I should work harder to update more, c) this story has received more attention than all of my other works put together, and d) approximately only one in about 150 people bother reviewing… XD

But anyway, thank you all so much for your reviews, comments, favs and alerts! Makes me so happy! X3

_Yatsuka Hikagi _

_May 02, 2006_


	11. He did WHAT?

There was an owl for him this morning. While this was not a common occurrence, he should have realized that someone would want to contact him from home.

Especially now that Kakashi's been missing for a few days…

The bird landed in front of him with grace and he mildly noted that it wasn't really an owl. Someone had used a genjutsu to make it look like one. Shinobi, after all, preferred to use diurnal animals when the sun was up.

He took the small package from the carrier and sent it on its way. He was pleased to note that the bird disappeared in a puff of smoke like any other summon once it was away from the prying eyes of others.

At least they were smart enough for that.

Turning his attention back towards the box in his hands, he tried to discern what was in it without catching his Housemates' attentions. Settling for actually opening the package, he was somewhat surprised to see another box and a small piece of parchment.

It read something along the lines of: _"For your eyes only."_ On the backside were indistinguishable scribbles that he couldn't make out at all.

Going on a whim, Sasuke decided to do a little experiment and excused himself from his table. He then jogged to the nearest deserted place and activated his Sharingan.

"You've got to be kidding me."

* * *

**In Way of Trouble**

Chapter 11: "He did WHAT?"

By Hikagi

* * *

Sakura blinked in astonishment.

"Run that by me again?"

Sasuke scowled a little before repeating his words. "Apparently the Fifth wants us to continue training."

She blinked again. "But how? We're not anywhere near Konoha, and I don't see how they're going to-"

"Read it." He shoved the parchment in her hands. Sakura's eyebrows raised a notch by the time she was done.

"What on ear-?"

"My thoughts exactly."

This time it was Sakura who scowled.

"What is she thinking?"

Sasuke shrugged. "I don't know, but we have to wait until Naruto gets here with Shikamaru to discuss this further."

And as if on cue, the Slytherin showed up with his Hufflepuff friend in tow, bouncing merrily across the school grounds.

"Yo, Sakura-chan, Sasuke-teme! What's so important that we're skipping class?" he grinned. As per usual, Naruto was full of energy while Shikamaru's face was twisted in a permanent frown.

"This is troublesome. We're fortunate that it was only History of Magic, otherwise the teachers would be on our asses by now."

"Maa, maa," Naruto said in a sly voice. "Get used to it, Shikamaru. If the rest of the school year goes along nicely, then we'll be skipping many more classes thanks to a few kage-bushin from yours truly!"

Shikamaru sighed and brought a hand to his forehead and Sakura cleared her throat to get their attentions.

"Ahem. Anyway, Naruto. The reason why we're holding an emergency meeting was because of something that came along." She handed them the paper in her hands. "Read it."

He humored her by pretending to go over the paper when a few words caught his attention. Doing a double take, his eyes zoomed over the (thankfully simplified into hiragana when it applied for his benefit) sentences until his mouth caught up with the rest of his brain.

"The hell?"

"That's what we were thinking as well."

Naruto re-read the parchment a few more times to make sure that he'd read it correctly the first time. "Pervert-sensei's going to keep working with me while I'm here? How's he going to do that?"

"That's what I'd like to know as well," Shikamaru said. "It says here that the three of you are going to be practicing specialized jutsu. And while I'm somewhat relieved that I'm not included in any of this, I can't help but feel a little left out and curious."

"Why isn't Shikamaru undergoing training?"

"Probably because the only person he could gain any benefit from is his own dad."

"Ah. Is that so…"

The shinobi pondered on this for a little while.

"So… What do we do now? They haven't even told us how this was going to happen, and I don't see how Tsunade-sama or Jiraya-san can afford to take the time off to come train us here."

"Hey, if that Baabaa can make it look like the passage of time doesn't affect her, I'm sure she'll find a way so that distance doesn't either."

"Naruto no baka!"

There was a punch, and Naruto's head sported a new bump in seconds.

"How about if we just see what's in the other box?" They all turned to look at Sasuke. "What? Was I the only person thinking that?"

* * *

There was a rumor going around that Hogwart's DADA curse wasn't just limited to the DADA position. Whispers were being exchanged in the usual fashion, but at least they weren't centered around him this time around.

"That Hatake-person Dumbledore found this year… I heard that he hasn't shown up in a while."

"Oh? You've seen him after his initial introduction? What's this now, becoming the stalker of unusual things, Samantha dear?"

"Of course, Krissy darling! Sometimes he helps clean the hallways with Filch or Hagrid with feeding the Magical Creatures."

"It figures. Just when I think that the day might not be so bad after all, you guys end up stirring up some trouble again. Only you would follow up on something like that. And you shouldn't encourage her in any way."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Aww, but it's fun to gossip like this!"

"Honestly… You two just like to get on Elizabeth's nerves."

"Lighten up a little, Maddie. We were only jesting."

"Yes, but your jests tend to leave poor Lizzy on the verge of insanity."

"Ouch! Your words wound me, Madeline."

"Oh Sammy, don't die on us now!"

"Never, my friend. I have many more rumors to share before I leave this earth!"

"Gah! Why do I put up with you two?"

"Maybe because we're stuck in the same House?"

"Arg!"

"Relax, Liz. Kris and Sam are doing this on purpose by now."

"But all jokes aside, I am serious about Hatake. It's just that no one's seen much of him since the Beginning of Term Feast. Well, with the exception of probably me and a few others…"

"Hey, you guys…What if he's working for You-Know-Who?"

"Working for You-Know-Who? Are you serious, Kris? How can a guy like that be working for an evil dark lord?"

"But doesn't it strike you as odd, that in the most recent Death Eater attack, You-Know-Who has managed to gather more recruits? I wouldn't be surprised if he's joined His forces."

"Oh Kris, you're getting worked up about nothing."

"That's a laugh! Who wants to make a bet to see if he's got a mark on his left arm? Anyone?"

"Sam, I'm being serious here. I wouldn't put it past him, with the way that he's covering his face all the time."

"Really? He doesn't seem like the type to me, going from what Sam's said about him. I've also heard from other sources that he's almost as much of a Squib as Filch is fabled to be. I've never seen him with a wand or anything, and he seems to do all of his chores the Muggle way…"

"Are you sure, Liz? But with hair that color, it has to be an illusion or charm of some sort. There's no way a person of his age can be greying-"

"Really? What if his parents just accidentally dropped him in a potion when he was a baby?"

"Sam! You make it sound like they dropped him on his head or something!"

"Now, now – you know I didn't mean it that way…"

"Seriously. You two had better not be getting funny ideas…"

"And you should know better by now than to try to stop them when they're worked up about some ridiculous notion, Liz."

"You would think so too… Oh drat, I left one of my books back in my dorm. You can go on ahead without me, Maddie. Just make sure that the other two don't get lost or something – I wouldn't put it past them…"

Harry shivered slightly as he walked down the hallways, trying to ignore all the voices that his ears picked up. Everything was louder than usual, and for the life of him, he couldn't figure out why.

The intern who was supposed to be helping Filch out in his work hadn't shown up one day, and that was right after Harry had woken from a particularly nasty nightmare. He wasn't sure if Hatake was involved or not, but he wasn't going to go asking around.

Harry pushed past the group of girls who were 'quietly' gossiping loud enough for him to hear in order to get to his Common Room.

He saw a pink head in the crowds and changed his mind. He wasn't a close friend of Haruno, but Hermione seemed to get along with her nicely. Still, if it meant that he might get a few leads and possibly clues to something potentially dangerous, then it couldn't hurt to try.

"Hey. Sakura Haruno, was it?"

Sakura turned to meet him. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Um, yeah. What do you know about the intern? You seem to have come from the same place, if what Dumbledore implied was correct…"

"Oh. Something like that. We've known him for only a few months before we came here…"

* * *

The box couldn't be opened. It was as simple as that.

"Okay, there goes what ever was in that direction."

"Not yet, not yet! I haven't tried blasting it apart with chakra yet! Maybe if I gather enough in my palms and re-"

Naruto abruptly stopped talking as he focused in on something that only he could hear by slightly tilting his head in one direction. Sakura became a little nervous at the blond's uncharacteristic silence.

"What's wrong, Naruto?"

"Ah. It seems like the Potter-kid heard some rumors about Kakashi-sensei."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. He approached the kage-bushin that looks like you."

Sakura blinked in confusion. "How do you know something like that?"

"Eh? Simple! My bushin tell me what's going on in here." He pointed to his head.

Sakura shook her own in disbelief. Leave it to Naruto to continuously surprise you even without him knowing it. Bushin weren't supposed to be capable of relaying messages back to that degree while currently being engaged in various activities. Usually they only sent across vague emotions or impressions – verbal (or mental) communication from that distance was nearly impossible. Plus most of the information relay happened when the technique was released (unless the magic surrounding Hogwarts somehow strengthened chakra pathways in exchange for disabling technology...).

Just the fact that his bushin were able to last that long without having the caster at a close range was a feat in itself. And how had he managed to pull off their personalities when he created clones for the rest of them as well? Come to think of it, how did he handle information coming from four outer sources (supposing that the clones could send information) at the same time? Did he realize that he was doing something nearly impossible? Did he even know that kage-bushin sent information back after being released?

Sakura spared her teammate a glance as he sat staring at the box, scratching his head. _'Probably not...'_

And while Sakura pondered alone in her thoughts, Shikamaru drifted off into a state of slumber against a tree without his teammates noticing.

"Wait a second… What if this was 'for your eyes only' again? Maybe they'll have instructions somewhere else that can only be read by your bloodlimit."

"I was going to say the same thing, dobe. Sharingan!"

Sasuke made quick work of the box shortly after, and less than half a minute later, the genin were staring at its contents. It was a bit of a disappointment, because the package had been of decent size – not too big where it was difficult to hide, but not small either. But instead of it containing weapons and material like what Naruto had been anticipating, there was only a single item within.

It was a scroll.

"Open it."

She recognized what was written on the scroll immediately. It was a summons, much like the ones in the Chuunin Exam, but Sakura wasn't sure if it was going to work in the same wa-

_Poof!_

And Jiraya emerged from the smoke.

"Whoa, Pervert-sensei! How the h-"

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?"

"Dobe, shut up."

"Nyah, nyah. Make me, teme."

"Naruto, close your trap unless you want me to do it for you!"

Naruto immediately quieted as Sakura brandished her fist in a threatening manner. Kyuubi's healing factor or no, Sakura's punches hurt like nothing else. And he wasn't sure if the Nine Tails could bring him back to full health if she decided to be scary at an inopportune moment.

Sometime during it all, Shikamaru had woken up do to the noise. Upon seeing a legendary sennin in their midst, he decided to join in with the rest of his fellow shinobi, seeing as the Sannin might have some useful information available.

"Okay," Jiraya continued as they sat down in a circle. "I'm on a time-limit before the human summoning jutsu wears out, so I'll make this quick. As you should now know, we have plans to further your education while you're still away. Tsunade-hime has received the news that Kakashi's been missing for a while, so we will take that into our considerations."

They all nodded, and Jiraya took the cue to keep talking.

"Naruto, you will still be training under me. Sakura, under Tsunade. Shikamaru, since you've already made it to the rank of Chuunin, I'm afraid that we can't spare any resources. We can give you a few things to work on, but those won't be like the others' – you'll understand what I mean later. Plus I hear that you're smart enough to take care of yourself."

Shikamaru gave a bored nod of understanding.

Sasuke, on the other hand, was not pleased. "What about me?"

"Well… Um, that's where Kakashi would have come in, but at this point, we have little other options left to us. He would have been your ideal instructor because of his Sharingan eye, but I think we have someone in mind that would help as well."

Sasuke waited.

"It's a touchy subject, but she was once Orochimaru's student before the traitor defected."

"So?"

"What I'm saying is that she received the curse seal too. Her name's Mitarashi Anko, and she's going to supervise you in the arts that Orochimaru taught her."

Sasuke's eyes showed that he wasn't sure about this decision, but he gave no other indication that he was against his new instructor.

"Now, first thing's first. We can't communicate to you through human summoning scrolls all the time in case there's a battle, so use a regular summoning jutsu to get messages across. They're more reliable than owls any day, and no one can intercept them, and they don't take days to reach you. Damn England is too far away for us to use the stupid birds all the time anyway. Naruto, you already know how to do this. What about you, Sakura?"

"Tsunade-sama was more concerned about medical jutsu than summoning ones."

"Understandable." Jiraya then turned to Sasuke. "And when Anko gets here, she'll be teaching you the basics of summoning snakes."

"Understood."

"Now, I suppose you're all wondering just how you'll be receiving training, yes?" They nodded. "Well, I have a few scrolls here that should – dammit, where did I put them?"

Jiraya looked around in his pockets in a semi-comical way, but couldn't find what he was searching for.

"Oi, Naruto, my time's almost up. I think I left the scrolls in the Hokage's office when you guys summoned me. I'm going to hand it to Gamakichi when I get back, so make sure you summon him two minutes after I leave, got it?"

"Ossu!"

"Sore de, jaa!"

Jiraya then poofed out of existence, leaving behind nothing but an empty scroll. The ink had disappeared as soon as the jutsu took place, but Sasuke used a small katon jutsu to get rid of the evidence anyway.

Naruto waited for the allotted amount of time before he bit into his thumb and made a few hand seals. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

There was another puff of smoke as a small frog-like animal wearing a dark vest was called forth. Gamakichi waved at the shinobi in front of him.

"Yo, Naruto-bro! Jiraya's told me what's going on and gave me these." The toad handed the blond genin four or five scrolls. "Well, gotta go! Old man Jiraya told me to be quick so that he can talk to me afterwards. Call me again if something comes up!"

* * *

As it turned out, they were to undergo a special type of jutsu that had been adapted thanks to a few unnamed individuals. Originally, it had been a kinjutsu used in the Interrogation Squad for questioning captured enemies, but Tsunade had managed to persuade one of her friends to twist it so that it didn't hurt the people it was performed upon.

It was very similar to the Mangekyou Sharingan's Tsukiyomi in the sense that it trapped the victim in a genjutsu based on the creator's whims. However, unlike the Tsukiyomi, the revised edition of the jutsu did not make one relive seventy-two hours of their worst nightmares, but instead made the participant undergo a scenario that the creator had intended.

Sakura had a feeling that Sasuke would be uncomfortable by the matter, but he was doing a good job of hiding it.

One downside was that it couldn't handle the strain of the seventy-two hour limit, and was instead reduced down to eight hours at the most. And upside was that since this version required the participant to be unconscious, that time limit didn't really matter. The jutsu did not strain their bodies in any way, so the genin would theoretically not be too tired to attend classes the next morning.

By what the scrolls had read, Jiraya's appearance was a one-time thing only, because it was too difficult to use summonings like that all of the time, especially during a crisis. They were to summon animals (Naruto would be the go-between until Sasuke and Sakura could summon by themselves) carrying instructionary scrolls.

Each new scroll would contain recorded information accumulated by their respective teachers so that the genin could, in a sense, learn how to perform a jutsu during their sleep. The theory and lessons would vary between them based on their teachers' specific teachings, and Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura were taught how to undo the protective seals placed on the scrolls in the first set of instructions left behind.

They found that the scrolls recorded their instructors' personalities, mannerisms and etcetera down so that each scroll contained exactly one jutsu. Actually performing the skill was another matter. They were to do physical training to improve on their own since the kinjutsu couldn't help them develop the skills in their sleep. There was only so much a genjutsu-induced training session could do, after all.

Naruto had been excited up to the point where he found out that he would still have to go to school on top of the mission, night lessons, and training all at the same time. In the end, it meant that they were essentially 'attending school' nearly twenty-four hours a day. Sasuke, however, didn't seem a bit phased.

"We have our work cut out for us."

Sakura couldn't help but nod in agreement.

* * *

A few weeks passed by quickly. So quickly, in fact, that Sakura had a hard time remembering that this was all still part of her mission. The nightly training sessions had been mentally taxing on top of all the homework and studies piled one after the other. Add to the fact that they were patrolling the borders of the school grounds whenever possible, didn't make her a very happy camper.

Right now, Naruto and Shikamaru were the ones in the Forbidden Forest, keeping watch. They had come to the agreement that there should always be at least one person outside at any given time. Before, Kakashi had used an excuse to help Hagrid to help with the shifts in order for them to get adjusted to the school, but that option was no longer available anymore.

At least Naruto's proficiency with his kage-bushin was consistently able to cover for them when they were not attending classes (sometimes they even took good enough notes, to their surprise) to the point where Sakura, Sasuke and Shikamaru trusted him with their not-quite wands. It was a frustrating deal to have to try to imitate what their classmates were doing when they were limited to only a few basic spells. Kakashi would have been able to tweak their fake wands further to help along with their studies, but he wasn't to be found since a long while ago.

Silently, Sakura wondered what had become of their original jounin-sensei, but that thought passed quickly as the professor's voice continued lecturing on.

_"Now that we have concluded reading and studying the chapter about the magical and physical properties of a unicorn, we can now move on to the dragons…"_

Sakura started writing down notes when something flickered at the edge of her senses. The feeling passed and was replaced by a source of chakra directly behind her. "I have something to share with you," a voice whispered into her ears.

Seeing that no one else noticed anything wrong in the room, Sakura concluded that the person was using some kind of jutsu to remain hidden or communicate to her privately. Taking a yawning stretch backwards in her seat, she whispered back while pretending to be paying attention to the lecture being given.

_"First off, as you all should very well know from the Triwizarding Tournament a few years ago, dragons come with a pair of leather wings that allow it flight and mobility."_

"What did you find out?"

_"Another basic fact is that they have claws and sharp teeth, very much like the Muggle stories of Beowulf, Sleeping Beauty, and the legends of Camelot. They can also breathe a hellish sort of fire by mixing a chemical that is produced by special glands located in their throats."_

"Tomorrow afternoon after the Quidditch match. Be at Hagrid's hut. Doesn't matter if you're alone or not, but the first is preferable."

_"It is quite obvious that dragons differ vastly from yesterday's unicorns. This is evident in the way they produce magic to protect themselves against intruders and predators. For instance, the majority of dragons today have tough, nearly impenetrable scales that deflects most jinxes and hexes…"_

"What's the occasion?" she said while continuing to write down her notes, summarizing what the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was lecturing. _Magical properties of a dragon and a unicorn differ in way they survive in wild. First tends to be offensive while second prefers being defensive. _

"I've been tipped off that something ominous is lurking about the forest. It might be hostile."

_Neither considered as Dark Creatures; being covered in class because of ways their blood can be used in curses and dark spells… See yesterday's notes to see uses of Unicorn's blood._

"Gotcha. I'll be there, but I don't know if I can shake off my chaperone without looking conspicuous."

_It is well-known fact that current Headmaster discovered the 12 usages of Dragon Blood. Not all of them can be classified under healing or restoration categories; some are very destructive._

"That's fine. We'll find a way to make sure she doesn't notice. Even if she does, it doesn't matter."

_But purity concentration percentage required for usage is too high so availability of products using DB is limited._

"Roger."

_Demand keeps suppliers going though, so Ministry has placed a limit on the quota of Dragons being hunted. Same as Unicorns but for different reasons; at least Dragons can defend themselves against hunters._

"Oh, and the teacher's just called your name. The answer's that one theory by Richardson regarding the usage of magical implements to try to raise endangered species in captivity."

Sakura calmly raised her head from her piece of parchment and cleared her throat, silently thanking her informant for at least paying attention to the teacher. It was one thing to copy things down while paying attention elsewhere, and it was another to actually absorb that information at the same time.

"The answer, Professor, is Alfred Richardson's Theory of Captivity that states that it is possible to bred and raise a magical beast in a contained or specified area so that it reaches its maximum state of potency while…"

* * *

"What could _possibly_ go wrong?" Ron asked as Harry climbed into bed that Friday night. "I mean, we're going up against the Hufflepuffs!"

"Exactly," Harry said as he placed his glasses on his nightstand. "They've got a lot of new faces this year. I don't know what they're planning on doing, or even if they'll use the same old tricks and strategies from before."

Harry knew that Ron was right, especially if he was getting worked up about how the _Hufflepuffs_ could have managed to come up with something to throw the Gryffindors off. It would be one thing if they were going to go up against the Slytherins, but…

"But they even got one of the international students to join! Dad says that Japan has even _less_ space and _more_ Muggles than England, so most of their schools don't even have their own Quidditch Teams. I bet he's never ridden on a broom before!"

"But still," Harry stated, "I don't want to take any chances. We have to be on the lookout for him tomorrow and make sure that he doesn't have any tricks up his sleeve."

"Tricks. _Tricks_? These are the _Hufflepuffs_ we're talking about! They're not the _type_ to play tricks on _anyone_."

"I said I'm not going to take any chances."

Ron gave Harry a pointed look.

"Mate, have you _seen_ them practice? We'll have this match made in a jiffy. With our superior chasers and _fantastic_ goalie," he said, puffing up a little at his self-proclaimed title, "we'll score more goals than they can count. Plus it'll be a nice extra bonus for the Quidditch House Cup after you catch that Snitch."

"I'm not too sure about that, Ron."

"Oh, bugger off. You're just not used to my goal keeping skills yet."

"What skills?"

Ron glared at his best friend.

"Very funny. Ha ha ha."

Harry took on an over-concerned, mocking voice.

"I'm just worried about your over-inflated ego. It might suddenly pop tomorrow in front of a large group of people, thus rendering you incapable of flying in the windy conditions of November."

"I'm touched that you care so much for me," Ron replied back, using the same tone of voice. "Really, if I had known that you felt that way, I would have made sure that I didn't eat your last Chocolate Frogs the other day."

"So it was _you!_"

"Goodnight Harry!" Ron hastily said as he dove under the covers as a pillow landed where his head had been just a second ago.

_'It's times like these,'_ Harry thought with a smile on his face as he summoned back his pillow and the lights in the room dimmed, _'that I miss The Twins…'_

* * *

The crowds were cheering so loudly that it was almost impossible to hear anything over the steady drone of screams. With the wind nipping at their faces, the Quidditch players soared in the cloudy skies, flying so nimbly that they looked more like they were performing a dance ritual than playing a serious game of hot potato in the air.

"_And_ Weasley takes the ball and SCORES! Another ten points to Gryffindor!"

…Well, as serious as it _ever_ was going to get at this point.

Shikamaru cursed under his breath. They were an hour into the game and Gryffindor was leading by a good hundred points, making the score 50-150. Way to go for looking pathetic in front of a crowd. It didn't help that those fifteen goals were due to his lack of skills as a goalie either.

A chaser gave him a sympathetic look as if saying that he understood. If he recalled correctly, the other boy had been last year's goalie and hadn't done too well either. True, he had blocked quite a number of shots, but every time he figured out what their next move would be, his control over the broom would slip, causing him to momentarily lose focus, allowing the other team to score.

If he had been in any other position, it wouldn't have looked so bad. But as a goalie, and in the position as an international student, he couldn't have the luxury of ordering his other players around. The way their strategies had been arranged could all be summed up as this: try to get the Quaffle and give it to Smith.

But Smith wasn't the greatest flyer ever. Sure, his aim was superb and his intercepting skills were unbeatable, but he had a tendency to veer too much to the right when flying for the goals. The other two chasers, Franklin and Myers were considerably better, but lacked the upper body strength to shoot goals from the distance Smith was able to throw from.

The Beaters were doing a fair job so far. None of the members on their team had sustained too much damage, but Connors would have been a much better Seeker than their current one. Williams wasn't too bad, but she lacked the viciousness that was needed in order to fend off the Bludgers. She didn't seem to have the heart to aim them towards the other team, and instead sent them flying harmlessly elsewhere.

Shikamaru spotted something coming at him and quickly turned his broom so that it faced in the same direction. He recognized it as the same girl who had scored against him eight out of the fifteen times the Quaffle had gone through his hoops. A shrill whistle blew just as the score bell rang at the same time.

"Time out!" Madam Hooch called out, placing her arms in a 'T' to make her statement clear to all the people in the skies and audience stands.

Shikamaru wondered why a break was called right now when it seemed that everything seemed to be going just fine. But Madam Hooch's call was made clear as soon as he touched the ground and joined the rest of his teammates.

The captain was out of commission. And that one guy, Myers, who had helped hold the tryouts wasn't fairing too well either. Neither of them could fly spectacularly at this point, and the other players were at a loss for what to do. Substitutes on the basis of injury were pretty common, from what Shikamaru had heard. Other than injury, the only other time he recalled subs ever being _mentioned_ in Quidditch were when the original players needed sleep because the games had started to drag on for over a day. But substitutes or not, they were lacking a Team Captain and their Sub-Captain seemed to be unwilling to take charge.

"What do we do?"

When he saw that no one would volunteer as being leader, he decided that winning the game was more important than his comfort level for the time being. After all, wasn't leading a platoon part of his duties as a chuunin?

"How troublesome," he grumbled. Then clearing his throat, he caught the attention of the rest of his team. "Everyone, listen up. If no one else is going to take charge, then I have a suggestion."

After a few, quick moments of huddling together, they dispersed their makeshift circle and took to their brooms. Madam Hooch gave the all-clear signal and all the players took to the skies again.

"Are you sure about that though?" Williams asked while they kicked off for the second time that day. "I mean, you've told us that you've never played Quidditch before."

"I haven't. But I've noticed a few things that would improve our game significantly."

"But will that help?" she pressed, still just a little bit nervous at their sudden change in plans.

"Just trust me. I have the perfect strategy for that."

* * *

There were murmurs in the stands when the time-out seemed to take longer than usual. After trying to peer over other people's heads unsuccessfully, Naruto flopped back down in his seat, grumbling. He _hated_ being shorter than the rest of his peers, even though he was using a jutsu to make him seem taller than his original size. Malfoy seemed to have noticed his discomfort.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I just want to see how Shikamaru is going to kick their asses," Naruto said as-a-matter-of-factly, rocking back and forth in his seat in anticipation.

"Your international friend? That's highly unlikely… But all of us," the boy made a motion to the rest of the Slytherins, "would like to see those arrogant fools find their place every once in a while. Sometimes their egos get a little too big to bear."

Just then, the announcer picked up his amplifier again and started talking into the microphone.

"Well folks, it looks like there's a slight change in the line up order. It seems like Nara is taking over as temporary captain for the Hufflepuffs. Conners is the new Seeker, Chase and Franklin are the Beaters, Williams, as well as substitutes Paige and Whittle are the Chasers. Unfortunately, the captain is still out cold from a well-aimed Bludger, so that means that the Hufflepuffs get a foal shot at the goal. Good luck keeping goal, Weasley!"

* * *

Something was stirring in his bones. Perhaps it was the way the situation was handling itself, or the way their hopes weren't completely dashed just yet, but he was compelled to call another meeting. Urging his broom to straighten itself, Shikamaru made motions to Madam Hooch that he wanted a break.

"Time out!" Madam Hooch's whistle blew again.

All the players landed once again, this time not as panicked or anxious as the last time they had touched down.

"We're in good shape," Shikamaru began. "No pressure, Connors. Just keep looking for the Snitch. You're doing a good job by keeping on Potter's tail. Make sure you don't fall for his feints though. Excellent flying, Smith. It's improved greatly during this game. Keep on doing what I told you before, remember those tips, and don't let Weasley get the better of you."

After pointing out a few more things that would help improve everyone's games, Shikamaru was ready to call the end of their break. But Williams was still badgering him.

"But we're still behind, Nara," she persisted. "Catching the Snitch right now would be a big relief."

"We're only behind by eighty points," he explained calmly. "Don't lose hope just yet. If we keep going at this rate, then we'll catch up to them soon enough. Just stick to the plan and wait for my signal."

"I don't know about this…" They remounted their brooms, handles gripped tightly in their hands.

The whistle blew again, and Shikamaru took off into the sky.

"Just trust me…"

* * *

Shikamaru caught sight of something golden flying around near the centerline on the ground. Making a motion towards one of the Chasers, he flew out of the goal post area. The signaled player met him halfway.

"You know what to do, Williams," he called out.

Williams nodded before giving Shikamaru the all-go and flying off to the goalie position. She looked like she was ready to tear the closest opponent to shreds with her fierce determination to not screw up.

Shikamaru then took off, flying towards Smith. When he was close enough, he called out and caught the other boy's attention.

"We're going in for the kill," Shikamaru motioned, pointing backwards at where Williams was stationed.

Smith also nodded before flying off towards the goalie area as well. By now, it seemed that some of the audience members noticed that something strange was going on.

"It seems that Nara and Williams have traded places for the time being!" came the commentary from the stands. "This has never been done before in Hogwarts, but it doesn't violate any of the rules stated in the book. Well, I suppose that the Hufflepuffs think that that will help even out their score a little. Madam Hooch seems to be okay with this sudden change…"

After hearing this, the rest of Shikamaru's team noticed that someone else was indeed in guarding their posts. They caught each others' eye before racing off with a sudden burst of energy. The Gryffindor players seemed to be startled at the transformed Hufflepuffs who had before seemed so defeated and beat down.

"Connors! It's time to end this!" Shikamaru commanded. The Seeker looked towards where the temporary captain was pointing, and saw the Snitch. He started to dive, and Potter saw this as well and followed in hot pursuit of the Hufflepuff.

The Snitch quickly sped off, almost too fast for his eyes to follow. It blinked into view a few seconds later near one of the audience stands. Connors and Potter were almost neck-to-neck, but the Firebolt lived up to its name as being the topnotch brand of the year. Potter soon took the lead, but Connors didn't give up just yet.

Seeing the Seekers go at it gave the other players more energy and adrenaline as the Quaffle was being tossed here and there at a more frantic pace. As soon as a Gryffindor got anywhere close to the goal post, Williams raced forward and blocked the offending Chaser before he or she could score. If said Chaser managed to bypass that line of defense, then Smith moved in and stole the Quaffle from the other player. Then using his throwing power, made sure to pass the red ball to a teammate who could out-fly the nearby Gryffindors.

This new style of play threw off some of the pure or half-bloods who were confused by the offensive goal keeper, and some on the other side even stopped to watch the spectacle. Taking this opportunity, Paige and Whittle made more passes at the Gryffindor Goal Keep, Weasley, who was having a harder time than the rest of his teammates at the new tactics.

Shikamaru had taken in the fact that the majority of the Hufflepuffs, while having attended Hogwarts for a number of years, had been raised in the Muggle world and were more familiar with European football than the sport of Quidditch. They understood offensive and defensive tactics as Goalie, Defender, Mid-fielder, and Forward more than their positions as Chaser, Beater, Seeker and Goal Keep. In fact, Shikamaru was also more familiar and partial with the Muggle sport than the Wizarding one. At least then he wouldn't have had to leave the ground at such an early hour this morning…

Shikamaru snapped out of his thoughts as he kept following Connor's frenzied trail. The Snitch was darting away as if it sensed the two Seekers close behind. If the chase lasted for a prolonged period of time, then Potter and his superior broom would have the advantage with each passing second. Shikamaru saw the direction they were headed at, and making a quick decision, he speedily flew towards one of his Beaters.

"Chase!"

Chase fended off a Bludger that had almost run into a fellow teammate who was currently holding the Quaffle. The chuunin lost no time communicating what he wanted. Screw explanations; they simply didn't have the luxury for that.

"Chase, give me your bat. Paige, hand me the Quaffle."

"Why?" came the simultaneous responses.

"Just do it!"

Shikamaru, after having received said objects, then started flying towards the goalie, ignoring the shouts and cries of exclamation. They were nothing more than annoying noises anyhow.

"WHAT is Nara DOING?" came the amplified voice from the stands. The crowd's attention suddenly shifted from the spectacular race between the Seekers towards the international student. Spectators started pointing at the chuunin who was making a beeline for his own goals. All the while, the object of attention was only focusing on one thing.

Williams' eyes locked with Shikamaru like a deer caught in headlights. They seemed to scream, "Just what the hell are you doing? This wasn't part of your plan!" Smith also sat in the air, frozen in place as his supposed temp captain came charging straight at them.

Shikamaru threw the Quaffle into the air and reeled his arm back to swing the bat.

Shikamaru tried to project the words, _'Just trust me,'_ as he followed through his motions. Williams got the message and Smith seemed to have understood because they dove out of the ball's path and let their fellow Hufflepuff have his way.

"Checkmate," he whispered into the wind as the Quaffle flew into the goal post and a ding was heard, announcing that the Gryffindors had earned another ten points. The Lions were now ahead by a marginal twenty. Another ding rang merely seconds later, signaling that the Snitch had been caught. There was a startled collective gasp as the audience watched one of the players lose their grip and fall from their broom…

Shikamaru smirked in spite of his current tired state.

**_To Be Continued… _**

* * *

**Author's Notes: **

As always, I claim insanity. There are a lot of things that I know are wrong or inconsistent. I am also taking a few liberties with Quidditch and the class schedules for Hogwarts. Sometimes if I try too hard to keep it strictly canon, I only serve to confuse and write myself into a corner. And that bit about the dragons and unicorns (as well as that god-awful Quidditch strategy) was made up – I have no idea if any of it is actually true, but my fingers took me in a direction that I had not intended. Oh, and if you haven't noticed already, I like making up OC's when I don't know how to carry out a particular scene. All of the Hufflepuff Quidditch players were made up, as were the girls who were gossiping in the hallway. The shinobi from chapter nine were also (unimportant) OC's. They might, however, make another appearance depending on how the story goes (hint, hint).

I cut out a lot of stuff and decided to put them in the next chapter because it was starting to get too long. Rest assured, I will explain what happened in the Quidditch match – that has been decided since before I even finished this chapter. And because the majority of this story will be told from the shinobi's point of view, I'm afraid that finding out Hogwart's side of the story will be limited. I'm sorry that I didn't include more aspects of Harry Potter in, but it's a tad bit too late to go back and add all of that without having to strain my creative juices.

If I mistranslated or misunderstood something, please tell me in as neutral of a wording possible. It is very easy to take offense at something that wasn't supposed to be harsh just because of a few misplaced words that have negative connotations. Sometimes people end up sounding arrogant or stuck up when they really had good intentions in the first place. Out of personal experience, please choose your words carefully.

Also, I created a forum for discussing a variety of topics related to IWoT. Please feel free to drop a line, and I'll try to answer your questions right away given the limited amount of time I can spend online. Hopefully questions will be posted there instead of in the reviews because I cannot answer the reviews in a way where other readers can access my responses. By raising issues in the forums, I will have a catalogue of them and essentially be able to address concerns and such so that other people's similar questions can all be checked off at the same time.

If you want to throw out your speculations, do so in the forums. I love hearing all the ideas people get. They inspire me to keep writing and fuel me with things I should include in the next chapters.

Go visit my profile for news flashes and links to fanart and spoilers!

_Yatsuka Hikagi _

_October 01, 2006_


	12. Confusion

"Where are we going?" Harry asked the man in front of him. It was dark – really, _really_ dark. And they were creeping around in the dead of night for reasons he had yet to understand.

The place gave him the chills, almost like the Forbidden Forest the few times he had been daring (or stupid) enough to enter the grounds. It was an utterly foreboding, yet familiar sensation that crawled across his skin like ants on a summer day.

He realized that he was trailing behind so he ignored the shapes of what could be creatures crawling about in lieu of catching up to the person who was very much like the father he never had.

"You shall see soon," the man replied not unkindly. "For now, we should be as quiet as possible."

Harry fingered his vest absentmindedly, trying not to let his restlessness show. His bangs were in his eyes again, so he brushed them away so that they didn't hamper his vision.

It wouldn't do to be caught here and now just because he couldn't see two feet ahead of him. The constant paranoia of watching his surroundings, however, made him feel like a hunted animal. It was starting to grain on his nerves.

After all this was done and over with, he was going to relax and treat himself to a nice, large order of odango…

That is, if nothing dangerous happened first that warranted a visit to the Hospital.

Finally, after beating around a few more trees and bushes, they came across a small clearing. Harry felt his heart quicken slightly as the black-haired man took a few steps forward and turned around to face him.

Something was just not right about this picture, and he could feel it in the way the man was looking at him with a predatory stare. All of his senses were screaming at him to run away, to back out of the deal (_'What deal?'_), that this was a very bad idea and that he never should have agreed to this in the first place…

"Anko-chan, come here. It is time for me to give you the curse seal you swore to take."

Harry gave a start when the man called his name (_'No, not my name. My name is something else…'_) and froze when he got a good look at his teacher, saw that familiar, maniacal _gleam_ in the elder's eyes, felt that oppressive, suffocating air that just about screamed at all his senses to run away and never look back…

'Voldemort! What the bloody h-'

"Hai, Orochimaru-sama," he heard himself say. "I will do as you wish."

And despite his own protesting, Harry took a step forward… (1)

* * *

**In Way of Trouble**

Chapter 12: "Confusion"

By Hikagi

* * *

Sasuke flinched ever so slightly as he walked down the corridors. Ever since the end of the Quidditch game earlier today, the seal had been acting up strangely. Anko-_sensei_ (that still sounded strange to his ears, especially since he never thought that he would have anything to do with the seemingly crazed jounin after the Chuunin Exams) had said that this happened whenever Orochimaru was close by, or when he himself was in grave danger.

Neither option was very comforting to him at this moment, especially when he was in a school full of under-aged wizards who didn't have the benefits of undergoing shinobi training. If anything were to happen now, then there was no saying what could happen to the rest of the school.

And then quite suddenly, the pain stopped. All that was left was a slight itching feeling where the skin grew too hot and irritated.

'_I should find the others,'_ he thought as he hurried past the students.

* * *

"I'm really sorry about that," her friend said, babbling on to her dismay. "It shouldn't have happened that way, and I'm afraid that he has a tendency to be unpredictable in some aspects…"

Hermione turned on her heels and grabbed the other Gryffindor's shoulders.

"Look," she said, staring her housemate in the eyes. They were a piercing green, just like Harry's… She stopped that train of thought. "It's alright. It's not your fault, so you don't have to apologize for anyone. Madam Pomfrey can take care of him just fine, you'll see. It's not the first time he's gotten injured…"

Hermione turned her gaze downward and chewed on her lips in worry. "Well, at least I _hope_ he's doing fine, you know? It doesn't seem to be a serious injury, but I can't help but worry."

Sakura nodded in understanding. "In any case, you should be with him if you're so worried. You don't have to walk me to Hagrid's place."

Hermione smiled and shook her head. "I can't do anything for him by waiting in the Wing for him to wake up. At least this way, I can escort you to wherever you need to go. It's unsafe for students to walk anywhere by themselves – you remember all that rubbish the Ministry's been spouting as of late, right? Besides, it would be nice to give Hagrid a visit every once in a while."

Sakura gave her a small smile. "Oh, alright. Thanks for doing all this for me."

"Not a problem."

* * *

Harry felt that his head was swimming in a pond of murky water. Wait, it wasn't just his head because heads were attached to bodies, right? In that case, Harry felt like his body was submerged in dense liquid, almost like that one Task where he had swallowed gillyweed and swam to the bottom of the Lake.

Every move he tried to make was painstakingly slow. His muscles refused to cooperate and in the darkness, he didn't know which way to go except forward. Or maybe down. Up? Or was that sideways? He couldn't tell.

He would hear voices every once in a while, but they were so vague and faint that they would be gone before he could recognize anything that was being said. Even if he strained his ears, the only consistent thing that he could make out was the steady beating of a distant drum that pulsed in time with his heartbeat.

_How is he?_

_Didn't leave any permanent damage, did he?_

_I hope he wakes up soon._

_As do I._

It was noisy. His head was pounding as if he had taken on a Bludger straight on and had fallen off his broom from fifty feet up. The constant stream of timbres didn't help in the least bit, but he could tell that whatever was making that noise was very worried.

Worried…about him?

Either way, he wished that they would just shut up and go away.

_I'll never be able to face my McGonagall after this._

_McGonagall? What about me? I'll never live this down for the rest of my life! Fred and George are probably going to have my hide!_

_Forget Fred and George. The Slytherins are having a field day as we speak. I wouldn't put it past the blokes to flaunt it in our faces at every opportunity._

_At least the other Houses are being nice about all of this._

_Yeah, right._

And the swell of echoes grew louder, bouncing with greater intensity within the darkness, filling up the space with emotions not his own.

_Wait 'til I get my hands on that bas-_

_Shh! You guys better quiet down before we get kicked out._

_Hey, you know that he was only kidding. Besides, we were on our way out._

_Yeah. Tell us when he wakes up, okay?_

_Sure, no problem._

_Well then, I'd best be going too._

_Yeah, yeah. I'll keep an eye out for him._

_  
Thanks._

More words filtered in and out, but Harry felt his mind head for the surface of his consciousness, stroking through the dense liquid as if gravity worked in the opposite direction. It seemed to take forever and he had no idea how much time passed, but the endless depths of the ocean-like environment started to slowly clear with each stroke, the murky water around him fading away until he could just about see the imaginary sky. Finally, with one last effort, he broke through the surface and opened his eyes to the familiar ceiling of the Hospital Wing.

He recoiled as the lights hit his eyes and groaned in discomfort, bringing the blankets with effort to shield his face. A shuffling sound to his right alerted him of another person in the room.

"Hey, Harry," it said uncomfortably. Harry felt the ringing sensation from waking up too quickly slowly fade as the room stopped spinning and started to right itself. He tried to sit up and he winced when even the smallest of movements made his head hurt more.

Casting another look at the stranger, he blinked once… and then once more before reaching over to put on his glasses.

Oh, it was Ron.

"Erg," he coughed, clearing his dry throat as he looked around for a glass of water. He found one next to where his glasses had been and took a few gulps. "How long have I been out?" he asked, feeling the ache of sore muscles all along his body.

"Well, a lot less time than all of your other visits," Ron said, trying to put things in a more…positive? perspective. It didn't seem to make Harry feel any better, especially since all the aching pains technically weren't _supposed_ to be there after Pomfrey treated him.

"What happened Ron?"

His best friend made a noncommittal noise.

"Did I get the Snitch? What was the score?"

This time he coughed, all the while looking uncomfortable to be in the room.

"Well, erm, Harry. About that…"

_Harry felt the winds brush against his face. There was nothing that relaxed and thrilled him at the same time like a good flight high above the grounds, and he relished it. Not to mention that this was also the first Quidditch match of the year, so he was in good spirits for the time being._

_Idly, he wondered if flying was addicting like the drugs his Aunt Petunia had once wrongly accused him of dealing. If it was, then he was beyond saving at this point because there wasn't anything else that loved doing more._

_There was nothing he could do about his need to fly every so often, because he was sure that his father had had the same feelings. As Hermione had once said before, it was in his blood._

"We all saw you start diving for the Snitch, mate. With eyes like yours, I'm sure you spotted the Snitch in no time."

_Something zoomed past him, and Harry was quickly brought out of his daydreams. Their match today was against the Hufflepuffs for reasons unknown, as the Ravenclaws and Slytherins had backed out earlier last month. So far, their own Chasers were doing a good job of keeping a nice lead running. Hufflepuff's Goal Keep wasn't doing so hot, but that was to be expected._

_The figure that had flown past was the Hufflepuff Seeker, what's-his-name (Williams? Smith? He didn't remember at this point)._

"And apparently, so did the other Seeker."

_Not understanding what made the Hufflepuff speed off like that, Harry followed suit, his instincts taking over. All was made clear when he saw a flash of gold dancing near the opposing goal posts, and Harry leaned into his Firebolt for all it was worth._

_Connors (Harry remembered his name now) was still ahead by a long shot, having been the one to spot the Snitch first. But Harry trusted his broom and was confident that he could catch up in no time._

Harry shrugged, not bothering to correct his friend since he knew how stubborn Ron could be once he had made up his mind, especially when it came to topics such as Quidditch.

For a brief instant, Harry wondered why the Wizarding World didn't have more than one sport when the Muggles engaged in over dozens worldwide. "Then what happened?"

Ron gave a snort. "Nara went off his rocker and everything. He stole the Quaffle from his own teammate and took a batter as well to keep people away."

"Are you sure that's what happened? I seem to recall that he switched places with a Chaser though." Harry was a bit confused. Was Ron talking about when Nara had traded the Goal Keep and Chaser positions all around? He remembered hearing something about it from the announcer's stand, but the Snitch had been the sole focus of his attention at that point.

"No, I mean he actually went and took a bat and the Quaffle."

"_What the bloody hell!?"_

"_Is he crazy?"_

"_Someone check to see if he's been jinxed!"_

Harry recalled that people had been yelling loudly, but he had been solely focused on seeking the Snitch and out-maneuvering the Hufflepuff Seeker. He had assumed that the sudden outbreak of roaring had been from a scored goal or something similar.

Ron seemed to have realized this and continued explaining. "Well, we all thought he was crazy for aiming the Quaffle at his own goalie."

"_What the heck is he doing?"_

"_Somebody stop him!"_

"_He's going the wrong way!"_

"Apparently that wasn't what he was going for. It turns out, he was aiming for…"

Harry heard the noise of some high-pitched whistling to his left but was too preoccupied with the Snitch in front of him to see the zooming red object approaching at an incredible speed.

Ron had the grace not to finish his sentence, but Harry's brain had caught up with the rest of him as he slowly remembered what happened before he woke up in the Infirmary.

"We lost, didn't we," he said, in a disbelieving voice.

Ron gave yet another snort, and Harry had the notion that his best friend was doing a rather good impression of a pig. That idea horrified him as he was reminded of his Muggle relatives, so he ruthlessly squashed that train of thought before it could go anywhere else.

"Bloody brilliant, if you ask me," Ron said, trying to lessen the situation a little. "He lost ten points to gain a hundred fifty back and win the match."

Harry wondered exactly how well Ron had taken the initial shock, which lead him to wonder how long he'd been out cold. It must have been quite a long time, because his best friend seemed to have recovered somewhat than what he might've been like mere minutes after losing.

"Imagine. I'd never think that anybody could lose to Hufflepuff."

Harry tried to shrug off the feeling of disappointment at losing to supposedly worst team out of the four, but he couldn't help but wish that he had tried to close his hands around that little ball of gold just a few seconds sooner…

"There's a first to everything," he said finally after realizing that Ron had wanted a response from that last statement.

Ron gave a sudden sharp sound of laughter that made Harry start from his bed. "Sorry mate – I just had a wild thought when you said that."

"What was it?"

"Picture this. Can you imagine us and Malfoy fighting on the same side? I'd die from a heart attack."

He laughed again, and this time Harry couldn't help but to chuckle along at the absurdity. (2)

"Well anyway," Ron said as he calmed down somewhat. "It's about time we head back towards the Tower." He was smiling now, in comparison to before.

"Sure." Harry scrambled to get out of bed and nearly tripped on the blankets in the process.

"Are you sure you're alright? I could ask Madam Pomfrey to take another look over you."

"Trust me," Harry reassured, now itching to get out of the gowns. "I've been in worse scrapes than this. You should know that." He was also itching to go for a run (where had that come from?), but he didn't tell that to his best friend.

Ron chose not to reply.

'Besides, there's not much she can do to get rid of weird dreams. Although,' he added with an afterthought, 'it's not like I remember what they were about. Hermione would probably like to know what's been going on. She would also probably tell me to go see Dumbledore…'

Harry felt guilty for hiding things from his best friends, but there wasn't anything he could do. Even he didn't know what exactly his weird dreams were about, and he wasn't sure if having others know about them would help his situation any.

Especially when the weird dreams slipped past his grasp when he woke up and tried to recall them. What was that term? Oh yes – like trying to keep water in your hands. Or was it supposed to be sand? The more he grabbed at it, the more it evaded his thoughts, dancing away just before he could manage to get his mental fingers on it.

The only thing he was sure about was that he was starting to become more and more wary of the international students (and craving things he never knew existed) as time passed on. Those four were more than what they seemed, and his gut feeling hinted at it as well.

Inwardly sighing, Harry made his way towards the basket that held his clothes when something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. He turned the rest of his head so that it faced the window.

"Ron," Harry said, still not taking his eyes away. "Where are the others?"

Ron was stuffing something into his book bag from the sound of it, but neither teenager was looking at the other at this particular moment. "Beats me, mate. Some of the students are studying up at the Tower."

"Did Fred and George leave any of their firecrackers behind after last year? Were any of them ordered by the students this year?"

Ron shrugged. "Not that I know of. Why do you ask?"

Harry grabbed his friend and pointed to the window. There were traces of fire and spells in the sky as well as smoke rising up from an area of the forest. No one seemed to notice anything unusual, thinking that they were merely experimental sparks from the practical aspect of DADA or a spell lit up in celebration of the concluded Game.

Ron whistled as a bright flash of light exploded in a distant area of the forest. "Bloody hell! Those don't look like harmless flashes of wand work!"

"Where's Hermione?" Harry said, trying not to panic as their eyes slowly met.

"At Hagrid's place, showing Sakura around at her insistence."

They froze when they realized what that meant. Half a heartbeat later, Harry was hastily trying to change into his clothes with Ron helping the best to his ability. They didn't care if his shirt was unbuttoned or if his tie wasn't straight at this point, so the Gryffindor ended up looking like somewhat of a mess by the time they were done.

The two started sprinting towards the Main Doors, causing a slight commotion in the hallway as they pushed against the flow of traffic. Not long afterwards, there was an even greater surge of panic as McGonagall's voice rang out amplified throughout Hogwarts ('Sonorous,' Harry thought, remembering the spell from the Quidditch World Cup), announcing all students to quickly head to their dormitories.

"Attention all students! You are to speedily go to your rooms this very instant. I repeat, head to your dormitories right now. There is a slight problem outside that will be dealt with shortly. All prefects, make sure that the younger students are all accounted for and report back to the Office immediately. Professors, please head on outside to help contain the situation. Under no circumstances is anyone to go outside! Students caught violating this warning will be given a month's worth of detention and have two hundred points taken away from their Houses per person."

The last statement caused both boys to stop in their tracks. They were worried about their friends, but at this point, McGonagall's stern warning seemed to be of more importance and dire consequences than venturing outside.

Ron gave him a nervous glance. "What does that mean?"

"It means," he said, breathing heavily, "that there's something bad going on. Something along the lines of – I don't know – a Death Eater attack or something." He crossed his fingers and prayed that he was wrong.

"What about Sakura and Hermione?"

Harry sighed, bringing a hand to his scar as habit dictated whenever he was troubled. The headache had not gone away, despite all of Pomfrey's care while he had been asleep. "I don't know."

They would have contemplated their actions longer, but something else caught their attentions. They saw three familiar teenaged boys start walking in the wrong direction, towards where all the commotion was being held. Outside.

"Did you se-" Harry started. Ron interrupted him.

"Yes. Let's follow them."

"How?"

"I have your cloak with me."

Harry paused, wondering how Ron could have had the foresight to bring something as invaluable as that to the Hospital Wing. His thoughts must have been projected onto his face because Ron quickly added afterwards, "It was because Pomfrey would've chased me out if I stayed for too long. I kept it in my bag."

Harry bought that excuse. "What about the professors? Wouldn't it be against the rules?"

"You're starting to sound like Hermione," Ron joked as he started draping the cloak over the two of them. "Besides, that never stopped us before."

"You're right," Harry said, grinning in spite of himself. "It hasn't."

Ron beamed. "Padfoot would be proud of us."

"…Padfoot isn't here anymore."

"Bloody hell! I'm sorry, Harry."

"It's alright," Harry answered with a grim determination set on his face. "I just have to make sure that there's one less Marauder alive by the time this is all done."

* * *

"Run!" Sakura said, pushing Hermione aside as an explosion sounded from inside the Forbidden Forest.

Hermione, too panicked to think, started taking off for the castle. She went about three steps when she realized that the pink-haired girl wasn't following.

"Sakura!"

She was torn between doing as she was told, and following her friend.

Forest or Castle. Forest, Castle. Forest, Castle…

Then…

'_I knew there was a reason why the Hat was unwilling to place me in Ravenclaw…'_

The witch made an exasperated noise in the back of her throat and turned back to head into the forest, taking out her wand as she did so.

She blamed Harry Potter and his "hero tendencies" for her current dilemma, because they were starting to rub off onto her.

'_Blasted Gryffindor traits.'_

* * *

"Where do you think they're headed?"

"How should I know?"

"Ouch! You're stepping on my foot."

There was a scuffle as they tried to untangle themselves.

"Well, it's a good thing Hermione's not here with us."

"True. We're having a hard time as is."

"Shh! I see something a head of us!"

"Ow!"

"Sorry."

* * *

Oh no, this was all happening at the wrong time… Shikamaru was supposed to have met them by Hagrid's Hut by now, but none of the boys were in sight at this point. Then when Hermione proposed to wait with her and the explosion went off, she had just left, hoping to ditch the witch before anything drastic could happen. But the other girl was persistent, and Sakura had no choice but to head over to the destined area they had agreed upon before in the case of an attack.

Well, at least Naruto could make a kage-bushin for her if needs be. Then if Hermione caught up, she could lead her astray with the clone while she herself attended to matters elsewhere.

Making a single hand seal, Sakura mouthed the word "Kai!" and released the genjutsu, reverting back to her thirteen-year-old self in the specialized clothing they used for patrol. She sprang off, not noticing the dark robes that watched her from behind the trees.

* * *

"They're all going in the same direction," Harry noted from his vantage point under the Cloak as he saw more figures entering the Forrest.

"Well, then that just means that they're _all_ in it! I _knew_ from the start that there was something wrong about that Nara guy. He's too smart to be in Hufflepuff. And that Uchiha person is too conceited and haughty to be in Ravenclaw. If you asked me, they hoodwinked the Hat to get into those Houses."

"Ron, 'Mione's told us that the Hat can't be tricked. Besides, it seems that Sakura's going there too."

"What!? But she's in Gryffindor!"

"So was Pettigrew."

"…You don't have to remind me."

* * *

Sakura cursed inwardly when something else exploded and nearly caught her in its radius.

It was a good thing that she had been able to lose Hermione a short while ago, but that didn't guarantee that the witch wasn't going to get here any time soon.

A figure stepped into view, and Sakura could tell that it was a wizard by the way he held that precious stick the whole lot depended on.

* * *

Somehow, in the midst of all the confusion and chaos, they had managed to meet each other without getting hurt.

"Hermione, you're okay!"

"Honestly, Ron. What's wrong with you?"

"What happened to Sakura?"

"Sakura? She went in that direction…"

There was a scream, and the Golden Trio took off, now not caring about being seen.

They came to the place they had heard the scream from, and there they saw Sakura Haruno sprawled on the ground. Naruto Uzumaki was in front of her, hovering over her still body.

"What did you do to her!?"

"Urusai!" Uzumaki said, muttering to himself.

"How could you attack Sakura?"

"Ron, I'm sure that there's an explanation for all of this…"

"Like hell there is! It's obvious that he got to her while she wasn't looking!"

"Ron, it's obvious that you're a little infatuated with her, so your judgment is affected as well. You're not looking at all the clues!"

As a matter of fact, he wasn't. There were two wands on the floor and Sakura was still holding on to hers. Plus it looked like Sakura had been knocked unconscious, and Naruto wasn't uninjured either. There were gash marks across his face and his arm was bleeding.

Naruto then took off his orange jacket and placed it on Sakura, trying to keep her warm. She shivered in her sleeveless red dress despite this.

Hermione paused. There was something not right about all of this. Uzumaki was wearing the language charm, but it seemed that it was not working. But that was cut off when an arrow landed right next to her foot the minute she tried to take another step.

* * *

Harry was keeping watch over their trail into the forest when he heard Hermione scream. Quickly donning his Invisibility Cloak, he hastened over to the area where Naruto and Sakura had been found.

There, Hermione and Ron were trying to scoot away from two tall creatures that Harry recognized to be centaurs.

"We will not harm women and children," one of them said, raising his bow. "You, on the other hand, are too old to be granted passage." He was referring to Ron.

"We will not harm foals," the second one repeated. He stalked over to where Harry was hiding. Harry held his breath, trying to be as silent as possible. But the centaur seemed to have known where he was and the Cloak came off.

"You. You were here last year and we warned you to never return. No longer are you a youngling. Now you must pay for the consequences."

"What about these two?" Harry blurted out, gesturing to Naruto and Sakura.

"They are still young," the second stated.

"But they are our age! They're in our year!"

"Appearances can be deceiving. Saturn looms overhead. We are not to ignore such a sign."

The centaur raised his legs in a threatening manner as if to come crashing down on him. But just before that could happen, a streak of light came between them, causing the centaur to quickly back off in order to prevent from being hit.

"Potaa Haari," the figure known as Sasuke Uchiha said as he emerged into the clearing. _"You will not harm him."_

Uchiha exchanged a few words with Uzumaki and the blond retorted something back. He then picked up Haruno, jacket and all, and raced back in the direction of the castle.

Uchiha gestured that they do the same, and Harry nodded to follow, grateful for the chance to escape. Hermione was on the ground, so Harry had to tug on her arm before she would get up. Ron was close behind and the three of them scampered out of the forest, not pausing until they were on the other side of Hagrid's Hut.

"Hermione?"

Hermione was, unlike what Harry had suspected, not scared in the least bit. In fact, she was concentrating with her brows gathered on her forehead.

"That's odd…"

"What?"

"I only see three sets of footprints behind us. It's almost as if they disappeared."

"That's crazy. You know that we can't Apparate on Hogwarts Grounds. Besides, we don't know if they're even old enough to know how to do that."

"Still… When I was following Sakura out into the forest, she was wearing a robe on top of that red dress. Halfway there, she was wearing all black. But now, her robe isn't here."

Hermione shook her head.

"Never mind," she said, feeling in her robe pockets for the items she had gathered earlier. Maybe with these, things would be cleared up just a little.

They all huddled under the Cloak and slipped past the teachers who were in the Order. Fortunately, neither Professor Dumbledore nor Mad Eye Moody were there. The professors were headed into the Forbidden Forest, in the same direction as the trio had just left.

They managed to sneak in through the main doors and somehow traveled all the way to their dormitories without being caught.

When they went through the door, however, Ginny was waiting for them, tapping her foot impatiently with her hands on her hips. Harry gulped, thinking that she was very reminiscent of her mother.

"Ronald Weasley," she reprimanded. "Just where have you been!?"

Apparently, Ron thought so too. He started backing up against the wall. "I was… Um, er…"

"Everyone else had gotten here an hour ago! What sort of trouble did you get into this time?"

"Wait, 'everyone'? Where's Sakura?"

"She's next to the fireplace, you bloke," Ginny said, pointing in a direction. "Hey Sakura, this guy's calling for you!"

"No I'm n-" Ron began.

"Yes?" the pink-haired girl said from the other side of the Common Room as she looked up from the book she'd been reading.

Ron gapped.

"But wait a minute, weren't you just outside with Hermione and everyone?"

Sakura frowned. "I've been here since McGonagall announced for everyone to head to their dorms."

Harry and Hermione chose to remain silent through all of this, their brains reeling at a hundred miles per minute.

* * *

"Phew, that was a close call," Naruto said as he watched the Trio head back to the castle. "It's a good thing that one of us here is good with genjutsu, otherwise we'd all be screwed."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Sakura replied, eyes still closed as she made the wizards believe they were following three figures back. After they reached the end of the forest, she dispelled her Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura illusions and wiped her forehead. Creating clones would have been a problem if the wizards had managed to catch them being released into a puff of smoke.

"You remembered to create my alibi, right?" It wasn't really stated like a question, but Naruto understood it anyway.

"No problem. I've got that all covered before we even left school grounds."

"Good."

Sasuke appeared on a branch behind them. "Are you guys done?"

"Yeah. No innocent bystanders in our way. We can do what we set out to."

Shikamaru landed on another branch as he finished doing whatever he had been before they had been interrupted.

"It looks like we have a problem, however. There are strange foreign beings in this forest. I've contacted the centaurs from before, and they said that Dark Wizards have been roaming about a few hours before the Quidditch match began."

"…So Voldemort already has his spies here?"

"That's not all. I've finally received a message from a spy just a little while ago. This was what I wanted to talk to you about when I contacted you all during class."

They were all traveling further into the forest by now, leaping from branch to branch that came from years of living in Konoha.

"It seems as if Orochimaru has a few of his agents here as well. From what our informant has been able to gather, they have teamed up for the time being."

"But at least the Death Eaters can't Apparate here."

"No, but shinobi _can_ use teleportation jutsu."

"…We're in deep shit…"

Sasuke nodded, even if the wording was not to his tastes. Yes, if Orochimaru and Voldemort really had teamed up, then there was no stopping them. A team of genin/chuunin was no match for the great Snake Sannin himself, fully trained and prepared or no.

"So then, the people in the forest right now are wizards? Or are they shinobi?"

"I have come to believe that the majority of them are wizards, but I wouldn't be surprised if a few shinobi are with them."

"So, should we counter with kunai and shuriken, or jutsu?"

"I say that we pretend that we're wizards as to catch them off guard. They would underestimate us a lot more since wizards have limited mobility due to their reliance on wand-wielding magic. At least, that's what any other shinobi would think of them."

"Oi… Sasuke, have you seen my wand?"

"You should keep track of your own things, dobe."

Sasuke looked through his own pockets.

"Mine's not here either. They must've fallen out when we got into that argument with the centaurs."

"Don't worry, Naruto. We'll come back and look for them later. If they're really gone, then we can just ask Professor Dumbledore for new ones."

"B-but, I liked the one I had!"

"C'mon, we have other things to do. Such as finding out if a mole had really been planted in this forest or not. And before the others get here. Dumbledore said that not even his Order knew about our real identities, just that he's hired some help out."

"Sure."

* * *

"What's wrong, Fang?"

The big black dog was sniffing at something peculiar on the ground.

"Did you pick up anything?" The dog whined in confirmation.

"What is the matter, Hagrid?" McGonagall asked.

"It seems as if someone's been here recently." Hagrid picked up something from the ground. McGonagall took a good look at it before handing it over to the other professors.

"Well, it seems as if this situation is already being taken care of," Dumbledore said cheerily.

"What do you mean?"

"This," he said, holding up the kunai, "is a signal from the guards I have hired that everything is alright now. Can't you see – there's a note wrapped around the handle."

Snape snorted. "I don't see how these people can handle a small Death Eater raid when Aurors have a hard enough time. And I don't know if we can trust people who wield dangerous weapons around, Albus."

"My boy," Dumbledore said. "I happen to have been great friends with their superior. I'm sure that they will do an excellent job providing us with the necessary support, since the leader had specifically recommended them to me."

"We'll just see about that," Snape said, eyeing the sharp metallic blade warily.

He's had his doubts about just how reliable their leader was when he'd seen that Hatake fellow join the Death Eater ranks less than a month ago.

Plus he was curious as to the identities of these guards were. Dumbledore had assured the Order that they were making rounds every day in order to make sure that Hogwarts was safe.

Snape had a sudden thought that the four international students could be the ones the Headmaster had been referring to, but that was quickly cast aside when he had interviewed the other teachers. None of the international students had ever skipped any of their classes, so it couldn't be them.

* * *

Hours after Hogwarts was thrown into a state of confusion (and brought back around), Hermione was lying up in her bed, staring at the ceiling. She couldn't sleep; there was too much on her mind.

Those objects she had found in the forest… Why would they have been disregarded in that manner? How could they have just been left there?

The only reason that came to her mind was that they held almost no significant value to their owners. After all, the objects had obviously not been looked after like any other person would have.

But who would do such a thing?

She turned her head to face Sakura Haruno's four-poster bed. The pink-haired girl's outline was just barely visible in the dim moonlight, and the rhythmic breathing patterns put her more at ease.

There was something suspicious about all of this…

And she was somehow going to get to the bottom of it, or she wasn't the smartest witch at this school.

* * *

"Now," Tsunade began. "I know from your reports that you've been working hard on the summoning jutsu and the others that I've been teaching you so far."

Sakura nodded automatically, even though she knew that Tsunade-sama couldn't see her in this one-way genjutsu.

"Therefore, I believe that it's in both of our interests that you get back to working on expanding your chakra supply since you have such excellent control. This helps give you more strength so that you can effectively immobilize your enemies when they underestimate you based on gender…"

**_To Be Continued…?_**

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

1. No, it's not really Voldemort that Harry saw. He just got caught up in the moment.

2. Please see the crack!spoiler/omake thingamabobber link in my profile.

**As of now, IWoT is discontinued** – or on a really, _really_ long hiatus. Why? For one, I really suck at plot – (crossover) shots come to me much easier than epic stories, and school is eating away at my time. For another, there are waaaaaaay too many Naruto/Harry Potter crosses out there. Coughandmorekeepcomingcough – you think that people would be more original by now (sighs in exasperation). You could probably look around and find one that's much better than mine, even though I've been planning this since I first stumbled upon Naruto around four years ago. All this makes me nervous because I'm afraid that the ideas I present will be like someone else's (what with a bajillion recycled plots and all), or that after I post, other people will "be inspired" and do something similar. Grrrr. That, and I'm just not motivated anymore. To me, crossover shots are more enjoyable to write because I get to mesh two worlds together and figure out which set of characters get to meet without having to really come up with a storyline that requires weeks and weeks (because it really does take me that long) of drafting.

And I am very sorry about the quality of this chapter. I was in a hurry to get this up (despite my taking extra time to do so) and some of the scenes were extremely rushed.

If you have questions, they will be answered if posted in the forums, unlike the ones left behind in reviews.

Please review! Who knows? I might decide to pick up IWoT again. _Might._

_Yatsuka Hikagi_

_February 13, 2007  
_


	13. Faux chapter and AN

The wind rushed around him, whipping past his face and running through his hair as he leapt from branch to branch through the Forbidden Forest. Ordinarily, he would have savored such a sensation because it meant that he was free from the cold, stone walls of the school.

But now was not the time.

Something unseen pushed at the edge of his senses. His nerves were tense with anticipation, his blood was singing in his ears. His thoughts were running around frantically, proving to be more of a hindrance and distraction than of any help.

'_Comingthisway, comingthisway, dangerdangerdanger, when? Soonnowlater. Getreadeygetreadygetreadygetready.'_

Naruto paused on the nearest branch as the wind shifted around him. He took the moment to scan the surrounding environment for any fluctuating chakra signatures and was relieved to find that while his teammates were a bit far off and tired, no one (at least from his side) was seriously injured.

Grunting with effort, he propelled more chakra to his feet and set off at the fasted pace he could manage without causing undue damage to the trees.

Because intruders were trying to invade Hogwarts…

Naruto ducked under a particularly dense tangle of sharp branches and continued unerringly on his way towards the rest of his teammates without pause. Some time during the course of his maneuvers throughout the forest, his hands had found their way into his kunai pouch and he was now running with an assortment of metal weapons at ready, a second's notice from being launched.

…And he was under a contract to protect the school.

He didn't know if his desire to fight to defend everyone was a good thing or not, because it was inevitable that a lot of blood was going to be spilt during this encounter. Looking down at his hand as he sped through the woods, he realized that his shinobi training had all but prepared his body to survive. Now it was the question of whether or not his mind was up to the deal.

He grimaced.

'_A lot of blood indeed.'_

* * *

And so concludes the 13th chapter of IWoT!

Just kidding. I needed to get a quasi-important Author's Note out, and FFN doesn't allow AN-only chapters. So to hopefully catch people's attention (and get hopes all worked up), this is the result – a brief glimpse of Naruto's thoughts during the invasion I started at during chapter twelve. Of course, since I never finished that event, it's unclear exactly _when_ this scene is taking place.

As everyone has probably deduced by this point, IWoT has been under some serious lack of updates. This is mostly my fault because I lost the original outline for the story and became uninspired over the course of the years. That, and upon reading my old version of the project, I was horrified by my writing style. (Imagine: the _original,_ original version was much, _much_ worse!)

And so, I've decided a while ago that IWoT is in need of (yet another) revision. Now, the problem is that I don't know what to do with what I've already posted of IWoT. It seems a shame to actually delete it off of FFN, even though I cringe at the less-than-stellar material. However, replacing the previous chapters with new content doesn't allow for (potential – hey, I can hope, right?) new readers to be "in" on some of the old jokes a lot of people seemed to like. Because face it – I won't be able to incorporate everything in the new version, and that includes a lot of the humor that used to be so abundant in the previous twelve chapters.

But FEAR NOT! I have come up with a new (and, so my siblings tell me, "better") outline that might help explain some of the glaring errors in the previous version. It still won't compare to some of the more talented writers out there, but I can hope and try to do my best.

So the question is this: Do I make a clean break and create a new story, hereby officially dropping the original IWoT project, or do I term the first twelve chapters (and, in retrospect, this one too) as "obsolete" and label the fourteenth chapter as the new "first" one? And for those of you who are familiar with the rules on FFN, rest be assured - the new version will be significantly different in terms of content and style.

Unless the overwhelming majority of the feedback says otherwise, I'm thinking about just adding chapters to IWoT. People seem to be slightly familiar with the title and more inclined to keep tabs on it.

_However, there is one important issue to address._ There is a very, **_very_** high chance that real-life situations will not allow for any rewrite of IWoT, period. Please keep this in mind, because even though I really want to finish this project, school is much more important. Not to say that fanfiction isn't great and all, but I would think that getting a decent job and helping out my family ranks higher on my eventual To-Do list.

If that is the case, then I thank everyone who took the time to read - special, extra thanks to all the wonderful people who left a review behind to show support.

_Yatsuka Hikagi_

_January 04, 2008_


	14. Interlude: Turning Back Time

**Teaser**: Thirty five hundred miles away from home, Naruto and the gang are stuck infiltrating a European school that doesn't exist according to satellite maps. Meh, things are starting to get troublesome. _Again._

**Notes 1**: This chapter marks the beginning of the new outline I've been brainstorming. To my knowledge, there will be no repeats of materials from previous chapters – meaning that while the plot may go similarly to the original version, I won't _ever_ be copy-and-paste-ing things from before. Just think of it as a tremendously long flashback, with a few major/minor differences.

**Notes 2**: I'm assuming that the people who (will) read the later chapters have already read this one. Also due to the nature of crossovers, _I consider this story to be semi AU_. That means that I might take some of the information presented in the most recent chapters/books of either series, I might just continue on as if they had never happened. _And there will be spoilers!_ And as a last bit of information, I am going _solely_ based off the manga and novel editions – _not_ the anime or movies. You have been warned.

* * *

**In Way of Trouble  
**  
Chapter 14 (Interlude): "Turning Back Time"

By Hikagi

* * *

Six or seven years ago, if someone had asked Uzumaki Naruto what his greatest, most desperate dream was, he would have immediately responded with, _"I'm gonna be the next Hokage and make everyone in the village acknowledge me! Yeah!"_ in an enthused, shrill voice complete with a silly pose and determined expression. Most people would have laughed at his face and then dismissed the young academy student as no one of great significance. His reputation as a horrible student and prankster made people overlook his potential in favor of the prodigies of his generation. After all, who would want to acknowledge a ramen-obsessed, attention-seeking, trouble-making brat over the "last Uchiha" and others with Bloodline Limits? And then, there was that _Thing_ to take into consideration…

In actuality, his dream hadn't started off that way. At the age of two, he had only wanted to gain approval from the people around him and to stop them from throwing glares in his direction. His first goal had been to make the adults at the orphanage to smile fondly whenever he entered the room. Shouldn't be too hard, right? After all, the other toddlers seemed to be doing just fine.

When that had failed, he figured that all the caretakers were crotchety old bats who had a personal vendetta against him. Well, not in those exact words, per se. A two-year-old mind could hardly comprehend the word "bat", let alone "crotchety" or "vendetta".

And then a little while later, he met the Hokage.

* * *

To be perfectly fair to all parties involved, the Sandaime had taken it upon himself to visit Naruto many, _many_ times before then, but had to keep up appearances as if he were impartial to the boy's fate; the Council would have otherwise made Naruto's life even more miserable. The young orphan just hadn't noticed the old man until one particular incident involving an experimental balancing ruler, two buckets of paint, a basket full of filched clothes-pins, five water-balloons filled with ink, a spool of thread, the next-door neighbor's cat, a large piece of cardboard taken from a nearby junk yard, a can of plaster, and a spare doorknob. How a small kid had managed to drag all of these materials around and wrestle them into an appropriate arrangement was beyond any form of comprehension.

The "great and most honored Hokage-sama" went home that day a little worse for the wear and ended up scaring his son (dear Asuma-kun nearly burned his foot off when his cigarette fell out of his mouth and lay smoldering on his shoe for a good minute or two) half to death with his appearance. Needless to say, the witnesses involved didn't forget about That Incident any time soon. Also, no one could accuse Uzumaki Naruto of being anything short of creative (and, in retrospect, a genius prankster) even at the early age of three.

(_"Almost four! Remember that!"_

_A sigh. "Naruto, you just turned three about two months ago."_

_A huff of hot air. "So? Now I'm going to turn four! No one said I can't!"_

_A headshake. "Ever the impatient one."_

_Eyes blinking. "Hey, old man, what's 'impatient'?"_) (1)

When Naruto learned that the "old random guy who just so happened to be the target of his latest prank" was actually the Sandaime Hokage, he had almost fainted from the shock. _Everyone_ knew that the Hokage was supposed to be the most important person in the village. (_"No way is he some cripple geezer with a stupid goatee! He doesn't even look anything like the big face carved into the mountain!"_) Though, what the Hokage actually _did_ that made him so revered was a bit beyond his ability to understand.

His punishment had been a stern lecture in the Hokage's office and clean-up duty while being watched by some creepy guys in black. They didn't really bother him too much, considering that they didn't offer to help or speak to him during the hours it took to scrub off all the paint and ink from the sidewalks. But they didn't talk to anyone else who passed by either, even when some of the civilians stopped to try to engage them in some sort of conversation. The people who started talking occasionally paused and glared in his direction, but the black dudes with masks never responded. Naruto thought that the people passing by were intimidated and was glad that no one had the nerve to walk up and push him into the ground. He didn't know what their problem was, though.

Later, after having (_"Finally!"_) completed his clean-up, he was taken once again to theHokageTower for yet another – thankfully shorter – lecture. When the Hokage asked him if he had any questions, Naruto looked up and let loose the first thing that came to mind.

"Why are you so _old_?"

Everyone else present in the room gaped at the young child and blinked during the awkward silence that followed afterwards. The Hokage coughed and muttered something or another under his breath. Whether or not it was an actual answer or some form of dismissal at the question was uncertain. When it became clear to Naruto that he wasn't going to be given a straight reply, he fidgeted in his seat and demanded, "Well?"

The Hokage sighed and reached for his pipe before saying, "Naruto. Isn't there a…" he searched for the appropriate word, "_different_ question you want to ask?"

Naruto spent a few seconds in contemplation. "Who were those black guys with white masks?"

"Those people are part of a special group called ANBU." The Sandaime Hokage rummaged around his desk until he found a scrap piece of paper and a pen. "Naruto, do you know how to read?" A headshake in reply. The Hokage started writing anyway. "Oh. In any case, ANBU is short for Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai. It is one of the many organized groups of ninja in theHiddenLeafVillage, and all of its members are very strong and skilled." He pointed to the various kanji symbols on the paper.

Some of the syllables were too difficult for him to grasp, so Naruto tried to latch on to one of the terms that seemed important.

"…Nin-ja?" he asked, trying the unfamiliar word for the first time.

The Hokage smiled in a way that made Naruto want to crinkle his nose. It wasn't necessarily a _bad_ feeling, but it made him feel incredibly insignificant in a way that was different from the disapproving glares the matron gave. Not _hate_, but something else – some other strong emotion that he couldn't quite name yet.

"Yes. Ninja. Do you see these first two symbols here?"

Naruto squinted at the strange writing, before slowly nodding. They looked familiar, and he was pretty sure he had seen them around somewhere.

"These are the symbols for ninja. _Shinobi_ and _mono_. _Mono_ is the character we use to depict a person. _Shinobi_ means 'to steal away'. When you put them together, they form _shinobi-no-mono_ – or, as it's also pronounced, _ninja_." (2)

The Hokage drew in a breath from his pipe before continuing. "If you look here," he pointed to the kanji for _shinobi_, "you can see that this character is made from combining a few other ones together. This one," he traced the top half again, "is _katana_ – the symbol for sword or other blades. And this one," he traced the bottom half, "is _kokoro._ Heart, mind, spirit – the essence of what makes a person _human_."

There was a brief pause where the Sandaime Hokage set down his paper and looked at Naruto with that strange… look. It made him feel funny on the inside.

"Some people believe that shinobi or ninja should bury their hearts under the swords they take up in order to become the perfect tools for their villages – that it is their duty to set aside their feelings in favor of completing the mission, or to sacrifice their 'heart' to become the best 'blade' they can be." The old man frowned, and Naruto saw that the creases on his forehead became wrinklier. "I disagree with this philosophy. I think that ninja are called to be blades in order to protect what is important to them. A ninja is a weapon who is supposed to have a heart to guide his actions, so it is the heart _guiding_ the blade from deep within a person, and not the blade burying it." He turned his head. "Do you understand what I'm saying?" (3)

Naruto didn't really understand, but this old man was talking to him, so he didn't really mind so much. The only thing he didn't like was that his feet were starting to fall asleep from sitting still so long.

The old man nodded his head, apparently satisfied with something. "You probably won't understand for a very long time, but try to remember anyway, yes? It is very important to have precious people in your life."

Naruto nodded in return, but the words from earlier were already slipping out of his mind.

_Black with white masks. Ninja. Sword. Heart. People. Protect? Something precious. And…_

"Any more questions?"

He fidgeted a little, his earlier train of thought completely derailed. "Uh. What does a ninja _do_?"

"A ninja is someone who is trained in the various arts of war."

"War?"

He had heard the term used before, of course. Mostly when the old, smelly people came staggering out of the equally smelly restaurants and didn't know how to talk quietly. Naruto knew that it was best to stay clear from them, especially at night.

"War is," the Sandaime paused, trying not to frown as he thought of a way to explain the concept. "War is like fighting, except on a much bigger scale. It is when, for an example, the entire village decides to fight against another village."

Naruto knew what fighting was, of course. That was what all the little kids had been accused of doing the other day when Ryuuichi had stolen Tomoko's favorite marble, and fists had been exchanged (4). With a bunch of wild, parentless children (and not to mention a few older kids just on the verge of entering the Academy) around, nearly everyone in the vicinity had become involved. Fortunately, Naruto had been camping out in a tree long before the fight had started, and he was glad he had done so. Tomoko looked as if she packed quite a punch for a small six-year-old, because Ryuuichi had walked away with a nasty gash on his cheek and a swollen black eye. It might have been desperation that had given her strength.

"Oh. Like right now with the clouds?"

The Hokage nearly jumped at the innocent remark. "Where did you get that idea from, Naruto?"

Naruto blinked. "One of the _ninja_ said so," he replied, incorporating and correctly pronouncing the newly-learnt word. "But I don't know how you can fight with clouds. Aren't they high up in the sky? Can you really reach out and grab them like everyone says?"

The old man shook his head. "Not 'the clouds', Naruto. _'The Village Hidden in the Clouds',_ which surprises me. Who told you this information? Do you remember their rank?"

He shrugged like he had seen the older kids do on occasion, and was rewarded with an awkward swaying motion that nearly sent him tumbling off the chair and onto the floor. "I don't know. Aren't they all the same?"

"There are many different ranks of ninja. Everyone starts off as an academy student and gradually works their way upward. The lowest official ninja rank is Genin. The middle rank is Chuunin. The upper rank is Jounin." The Hokage smiled in amusement as Naruto's face scrunched up. "Then there is the leader of them all – the Kage. I probably don't have to tell you that there can only be one Kage in a village, right? He has to be the strongest of them all and be wise enough to lead his people to prosperity. The Kage must love his village and protect everyone with all his might."

Naruto gave him a measuring look. "Are you strong?"

He chuckled. "Most people think so. They made me the Sandaime Hokage for a reason, I suppose." (5)

"Well, don't count on it! I'm going to grow stronger than you and be the Yondaime Hokage!"

The older man frowned and then said softly, "We have already had a Yondaime Hokage. He is the fourth face carved into the mountain."

But Naruto was nothing if not determined. "Then I'll be the Godaime!"

And thus, Uzumaki Naruto's infamous dream was born.

* * *

_Ninja. Strong. Sword. Heart. People. Black and white. Stronger. Protect? Something precious. Old man. Strongest. Clouds. Fighting. Unfair. Shadows. Nice? Love. Glares. Stronger. Fourth. Dead. Ninja. Strongest._

It wasn't until much later that the Hokage realized that for all of his chattering, Naruto hadn't exactly answered any of his questions, and he had completely forgotten what they had actually set out to discuss in the first place.

By then, Naruto had set himself up for his most ambitious goal ever:

_Strongest ninja._

* * *

Of course, Naruto didn't quite know how to reach his ultimate goal of obtaining the Hokage title. He figured that he first had to be a ninja, and the opportunity would then present itself. Hey, it wasn't like there were _that_ many ninja around, right?

His first sneak peek at an emergency council meeting a few months later quickly disproved that theory.

That was when he figured that ninja were probably made up of a bunch of grownups, and that they were stronger than he was currently. Therefore, he had to prove to everyone that _he_ was the best-est (and it was _so_ a word! He would _make _it one when he became the next Hokage!) ninja _ever_ in order to prove that it was possible for an orphaned kid to make it to the top.

And so began the streak of pranks that would leave Uzumaki Naruto's name written down in the pranksters' hall of fame for many generations to come.

* * *

However, if anyone had bothered to pay attention to the Naruto as of late, they would have noticed that he had stopped "defiling the faces of the most honored Hokage! Get the stupid brat off the monument!" or "painting the walls of the Hyuuga District as we speak! You _must_ stop him at once!" or even "switching all of the important scrolls in the archives. No one knew what was going on for the first five hours!"

_("Some people believe that shinobi or ninja should bury their hearts under the swords they take up in order to become the perfect tools for their villages – that it is their duty to set aside their feelings in favor of completing the mission, or to sacrifice their 'heart' to become the best 'blade' they can be.")_

The year Naruto had graduated out of theNinjaAcademyhad to have been one of the most peaceful times the Sandaime Hokage had ever experienced. Unfortunately, it had also been his last.

_("I disagree with this philosophy.")_

Now, after Sandaime's death, if anyone asked Naruto what his greatest desire was, he would still respond with, "Hokage!" But there was always something else that went along hand-in-hand with his first goal. Yes, he wanted people to acknowledge him; yes, he wanted to be one kick-ass ninja and be awesome in that regards; yes, he wanted to be considered as the strongest person of his village.

_("I think that ninja are called to be blades in order to protect what is important to them.")_

But not at the cost of his precious people's lives.

_("A ninja is a weapon who is supposed to have a heart to guide his actions, so it is the heart guiding the blade from deep within a person, and not the blade burying it.")_

So when he found himself standing on a large, stone statue of the Shodaime Hokage and staring at his best friend's back, Naruto's ultimate goal was quickly pushed aside in favor of something more immediate.

_("Do you understand what I'm saying?")_

He was going to bring Sasuke back…

_("You probably won't understand for a very long time, but try to remember anyway, yes?"_

A short time later, he was charging up his Rasengan to the highest degree possible while the sound of a thousand chirping birds filled the valley.

_"It is very important to have precious people in your life.")_

…Even if it _killed_ him.

* * *

At the same time, the Godaime Hokage Tsunade-hime was pacing nervously in her office, trying not to imagine the various scenarios that Naruto might come across.

What if the opponents were too strong? What if he couldn't convince Sasuke? What if he ran into unexpected trouble along the way? What if Orochimaru sent someone else as backup? What if one of the team members died? What if _Naruto_ died?

She didn't see the inconspicuous, unremarkable-looking scroll in the nearest bookshelf start to smolder and smoke along the edges until it was nearly too late. By the time she did, Tsunade was involved in something much more serious than a "mere" genin's defection from the Leaf. The slightly ruined scroll had shown itself to be a type of barrier jutsu with the intention of keeping… something in? Some unwanted force out?

Further study of its contents and cross-referencing with the Shodai, Nidaime and Sandaime Hokages' memoirs (strangely, the Yondaime's records stated very little about anything of the sort) revealed that the barrier was a joint project (the first and only) amongst all of the forming Hidden Villages in regards to what had, at the time, been coined as the "Uizaado Threat" (6). Upon prodding more at the unknown scroll, she suddenly realized that the scroll was not – according to the diagrams left behind – fully intact, and the barrier that was designed for purposes she had yet to understand might now be at risk.

Tsunade came to the heavy conclusion that she was dealing with something that might change the entire future of the ninja continent in a way she had no means of foretelling.

**_To Be Continued…_**

* * *

**Author's Notes: **

Um, wow. I started this chapter all the way back in December of 2007, and it took me this long to complete. I can only hope that with a more solid beginning, the story will be easier to write. Also, I am going to _try_ (key word) to limit the usage of Japanese, since I can't expect all of the readers to be fluent. With that being said, I will still keep honorifics, character names (and arrangements), and some techniques to their original language. Bleh – we'll see how things go.

The next few chapters will probably also be called "Turning Back Time" in correlation to all the major changes I want to have happen. I don't want to go back and uproot everything that I've worked on, but I need to clarify things, or insert other small details that will end up making a difference later on. The majority of the stuff from earlier chapters still applies, but new/conflicting information I include from now on should be favored instead.

1. I'm trying out a new style. Tell me what works, and what doesn't. Are the parentheses-injections too confusing, or do they add more to the story?

2. I actually had to do research for this portion. Credit goes to Wikipedia, Wiktionary, and Mahou Kanji Dictionary.

3. This is just speculation based off of the meaning of the kanji. My dad's been trying to slowly teach me some basics, so I've been doing research whenever time permits. Unfortunately, that's not a lot of time.

4. Ryuuichi and Tomoko are just random OCs from the orphanage. I have no intention of using them hereafter.

5. And as of December 10th, 2007 (that's when I first sat down to write this chapter), I have one complaint: I friggin' need a given name for the Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi. This has been painfully brought to my attention while I was writing this chapter, only because there was an extremely long section that involved the Third Hokage. I don't know whether or not to just up and _make one up_ for him or use the one from legends/Sampei Shirato's comic. (And if he ever does get a name, I'll use it in further chapters – so don't include in your review, "Oh, the Third Hokage's name is actually so-and-so," because chances are that I'll know it by the time anyone else does.)

_(January 2009 Edit: Yes, I know his name is Sarutobi Hiruzen. The original note was written a very long time ago. Please check the dates at the bottom of the page.)_

6. Ahem. For those of you who know anything about katakana… You should be able to figure out which word that is… XD

_Yatsuka Hikagi_

_May 22, 2008_


	15. Another faux chapter and AN

Sometimes he dreams of laughter.

He dreams of the soft, tinkling melody of a woman's voice, or the loud, boisterous bellows of a man's, or even the gentle, amused chuckles of another's. He dreams of flickering fires in the midst of cold weather, and bright colors in the fall. He dreams of being loved and comforted; of being wanted and adored and cherished; of being surrounded by warm, caring people and happiness.

_(Unlike now.)_

Those dreams are precious because he has so few of them. He can't even remember much about them while he is awake, save for the scant recollections of events long passed.

It is only when he dreams that he is able to experience those things again.

But dreams rarely come true, and he hardly remembers them when he wakes.

* * *

Then there are the other dreams.

* * *

Sometimes he dreams of snakes.

He dreams he is trapped and helpless, suffocating under coils and scales. He dreams of cold, merciless taunting and harsh rebukes; of being criticized and shunned and ostracized; of betrayal and heartache and loss and anguish.

Of being alone.

These dreams leave him feeling breathless; they make him feel weak and scared. They leave a horrible, unsettling fear sitting in the deep recesses of his gut even after he wakes, and it takes many long minutes before he is ready to go back to sleep again – if he even can.

* * *

Recently, he's been having these other dreams.

But they're not about him.

He doesn't know where he is, or who the other people are, but he feels as if he _should_. He feels as if the answers are right in front of him, staring him in the face. And all he has to do is reach out and _see_ with _more-than-eyes_.

Like what his teacher says.

_Looking beneath the beneath._

No, wait. That's not right. It's supposed to be with his _Inner Eye_.

But that can't be right either. Something's wrong.

He's not sure.

* * *

And between the realm of the sleeping and the awake, the lines between Harry Potter and Uchiha Sasuke blur.

_**To Not Be Continued. Possibly Ever Again.**_

* * *

Author's Note:

It's official: IWoT is now abandoned.

Well, to be fair, it's been abandoned since… January 2009. Or maybe even before that, really, since the last _real,_ real chapter (12, I believe) was uploaded way back in 2007. Since then, I never really had the motivation or the means to continue. However, I _do_ have a bit of good news. At least, I hope you think it's good news.

There's a rewrite! (It's got a really similar title. You shouldn't have any problems finding it on my profile.)

I know, I know – the older followers are probably thinking, "What? Again? Why?" Truth is, IWoT never really had much of a plot. That was my first (one of many) mistake. I was making things up as I went, I had no idea where I was going, I didn't have a purpose other than to compare and contrast character profiles, and the story didn't really progress anywhere.

Here's to hoping that IWoTA actually gets finished. I'll just cross my fingers right about now.

_Yatsuka Hikagi_

_March 7, 2012_


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